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.

Robot Cupcakes

Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to post! I've been super busy starting a new job!

Anyways, Benjamin's robot cupcakes turned out fantastically. They were apparently a huge hit at his awesome robot party! I had a ton of fun making them, and I'm glad they turned out as well as they did.

Here they are, in the plastic cases I got at the All In One Bake Shop and with my new tags attached! They smelled sooooo good!

And here they are displayed at the party! Aren't the signs Kristi made just adorable? She's so creative.

And here is one super happy birthday boy!

The cupcakes themselves were just french vanilla and devil's food, both made from a mix (terrible, I know, but they're soooo much easier!). The frosting was a shortening-based buttercream that I've lost the recipe to. It had to be shortening-based so that they wouldn't need to be refrigerated. The cookies are just plain sugar cookies with royal icing!

More news! These cupcakes will actually be the last order I'll be doing for a while. I want to focus more on developing my skills and testing new flavors and ideas before I make more to order. I think it'll be a nice little break to just make a dozen or so whenever the mood strikes me rather than having to make so many and plan so much. It'll be a nice little experimental period for me. =]

Cog Sugar Cookies!

 

These are the toppers for my upcoming robot cupcakes! They're cog-shaped sugar cookies that are iced with royal icing (made with meringue powder because raw egg whites scare me). 

 

First, of course, I rolled out the sugar cookie dough on a mat since my table is tiled.

My first batch, I had cut the cog shapes out and put them on the cookie sheet. I pulled them out of the oven and they looked like flowers. So, I had to end up cutting the cog shapes out of the cookies once they were baked. Therefore, every batch after the first was just circle cookies. 

Cutting the circle shape out of the baked cookies. 

Cutting the centers out of the cookies with a petit four cutter (it was the only circle cutter I could find that was small enough).

Cutting the teeth out of the sides with the petit four cutter. 

Pile of sugar cookie scraps. Mmmmm, good snacking. =]

Finished cog cookies, un-iced. 

  

I used the dip method to ice the cookies with royal icing, since it seemed easiest as I was only using one color for the whole cookie. I dipped the fronts of the cookies in the icing, then pulled them out and set them on a rack to dry. 

Now all I've got left to do is make, frost, and assemble the cupcakes!

Royal Icing

• 2 tbsp. meringue powder (I could only find the Wilton brand, and only at Walmart in the cake decorating aisle)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp. water

Mix all together until smooth. This version is best for using the dip method to ice cookies. There are thicker versions that are better for piping. 

Lots of News!

So, in case you haven't noticed, my blog has had a complete makeover! It was designed by my Aunt Kristi of Kristi's Blog Design and More! In exchange, I'm making 4 dozen cupcakes for her son Benjamin's fifth birthday next week! 

They're not just any cupcakes, however, they're....

 

And they're gonna be soooooo awesome. Here are some concept images of what they'll look like. 

 

 

And here's the supplies I got today! I was shopping all morning at Michael's (I find they have a better variety of cupcake supplies than Hobby Lobby), Wal-Mart (it was on the way home haha), and my faaaaaaaaaaaavorite shop, the All In One Bake Shop!

Rolling pin, non-slip mats (since our table is tiled), red jimmies, blue and green gel food coloring, silver foil liners, 2 different-sized circle cookie cutters (for making the cog cookies), piping bags, 26-piece deluxe piping tip set from Wilton, and 4 plastic 12-cavity cupcake containers (since the robot cupcakes will be transported from Round Rock to Belton).

I can't wait to get started on them! They will definitely be my next update here!

I also got some supplies to make my own tags that will go on every order out from now on! 

 

  

  

They're made by punching over the holes on tags with a Martha Stewart craft punch to get a cupcake-shaped hole. Then, I stamp the "Homemade By" or "Homemade With Love by" and fill in my name with a scrapbooking pen. Then, I color in the stamp using prismacolors that somewhat correspond with my blog. They'll be attached with this awesome cupcake ribbon I got at Michael's. I think I like the "With Love" tags better, but we'll see as time goes on. 

That's about it for now, but stay tuned for Benjamin's Awesome Robot Cupcakes!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

These were made for David's coworker Danielle's birthday party today! They're strawberry cupcakes made from a mix with whipped cream cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries on top. From what I heard and tasted, they were scrumptious.

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

•      1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
•      1 cup white sugar
•      1/8 teaspoon salt
•      1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•      1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

   In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.