Cupcakes 4 Christmas!

A facebook group was created by Josee of The Cakery Designer Cakes called Cupcakes 4 Christmas.  They were looking to raise 2500 cupcakes to be delivered to the Ottawa Mission for the annual Christmas dinner which was held on December 19th.  

My friend Calina and I decided we would contribute and agreed to bake 48 cupcakes. We had a great time doing this!  Here are some photos of our cupcake extravaganza!

The first batch - Vanilla

 

Preparing the second batch - Chocolate

 

Choo Choo!

The conversation went something like this:

Amanda: "Are you sure you can make these? Maybe you should try something a little easier."
Me: "I would like to give it a try. I think I can do these for Brandon's 4th birthday."
Amanda: "Okay. Better you than me!"

And that is how I decided to give 'making shapes out of fondant' a try.

I made the coloured fondant the week before...and the night before I set out and made the vanilla cupcakes (jumbo size) and started to assemble the trains....6 hours later....12 cute Thomas the Tank cupcakes were complete! whew! Thankfully, my wonderful hubby helped out with drawing the faces on Thomas or else it would have been more like 7 hours....

I think they turned out really well for my first attempt and the kids really enjoyed them!

All packed and ready to go!

The birthday boy enjoying his cupcake! Poor Thomas never saw it coming....

Tres Leches

What goes well with the Nicaraguan feast pictured here?

Tres Leches cupcakes of course! "Tres Leches" translated means "three milks".  The three milks in question you ask? Sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and cream.

If you are going to make these, make sure you use the paper-lined foil liners as the paper ones alone won't hold up as well once you douse them with the milks.

This cake is super simple to make with only 6 ingredients: eggs, baking soda, salt, sugar, butter and flour. The complete recipe can be found at the recipe tab or at page 48 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.

When the cupcakes are done baking, use a toothpick to poke holes in the cupcakes and brush them with the milk mixture.

Milk does a cupcake good!

Before the whipped cream is added.

After. With a touch of cinnamon.

After a few bites!

A special "gracias" to Rod and Amanda for having us over for such a delicious meal!

Irish Car Bombs

Guinness.  Jack Daniels (not Irish, but it's all I had).  Baileys.

From Wikipedia: An Irish Car Bomb is a beer cocktail similar to a boilermaker made with Irish stout, Irish Cream, and Irish whiskey. The whiskey is floated on top of the Irish Cream in a shot glass, and the shot glass is then dropped into the stout. Once mixed, the drink must be consumed quickly because it will curdle.

 

I don't know about you, but I prefer my Irish car bomb in the form of a cupcake.

Pulled this recipe off of Smitten Kitchen and it's totally worth the effort.

 

First you make the holes. You can use a 1 inch round cookie cutter, or use a knife.

Once the ganache filing is made....

....put it into a piping bag. Don't have one? A ziplock, with a corner snipped, also works very well.

Pipe the ganache filling into your cupcakes.

Bailey's Icing. The cupcakes are so rich and decadent, that you only need a little. The recipe only makes a small amount, so if you want to tower your cupcakes, double it.

I iced them "freestyle". It was just me and my spatula.

Are your Irish eyes smiling?

Halloween Treats

Who brings cupcakes to a Halloween party? I do! 

The buttercream I used for these had an orange flavour to it care of a few drops of orange oil. Very tasty with the chocolate cupcake.

More marshmallow fondant.  Those are some scary looking bats!

Boo!

The party table!

Fit for a Princess

These were so much fun to make!  However, trying to find a crown/tiara fondant/cookie cutter in Ottawa was not easy.  My dear husband made it instead as I needed it yesterday! Luckily, it did the trick but I have ordered one online from the USA.

Prepping the tiaras for their new home.  I made the tiaras out of marshmallow fondant. Added some glitter and candy pearls.

I know a few princesses that would love these!

Peanut Butter Chocolate

Whoever came up with the idea to put peanut butter and chocolate together was a genius!





These are made using a devils food cake recipe with a peanut butter caramel centre and topped with a peanut butter buttercream frosting.

If you love peanut butter and chocolate, then you will love these!

Muffin Tray

Check out what I found at Ikea!  Its smaller and deeper than your standard muffin tray.
There are liners that go with it but I couldn't find any.

Its called the DRÖMMAR Muffin tin and its priced at $12.99. Here is a link to the product: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/search/?query=DR%C3%96MMAR+muffin

Banana Cream Pie

Okay, these are my favorite....this week.

I love bananas so thought I would attempt this recipe for a banana cupcake.  This recipe called for roasted bananas...so I roasted some bananas...not the most appealing looking picture...

Then I toasted some coconut.  This was my second attempt as I had burned the first batch. You have to remember that its in the oven....opps!

I used a honey-cinnamon buttercream icing. I would butter my toast with it, I love it that much!

Chocolate Martini

Can I see some ID please? 

I call this my chocolate martini in a cupcake. I added some Crème de Cacao into a devil's food cake batter (how sinful!) and into the icing.  I have posted the recipe for the cupcakes under the recipe tab.








Butter and sugar look so good together.

Devil's food is typically made with melted butter (instead of oil) and lots of cocoa powder. 

I added about a 1/4 cup of the liquor to the cocoa powder and water mixture. 

The icing was with made with a combination of shortening and butter. I added a cup of whipped cream to it to cut the sweetness a bit and I added about 1/4 cup of liquor to it. You may find the icing to be a bit soft but you can always add more icing sugar to it to get the right consistency. Once the icing is done, you should refrigerate it for about 1/2 hour, then you can decorate your cupcakes.

Voila! Topped off with a chocolate truffle.