Bachelorette Cupcakes

My sister in law asked me to make some cupcakes for her friend’s bachelorette party. She wanted me to match the colors of the party, which were a turquoise blue and pink. Of course I was so excited to do it, I love any excuse to bake.

I used my all time favorite chocolate cupcake recipe- well my all time favorite for now, I have yet to come across a recipe I like better. The cupcakes always come out just right, very moist and a slightly denser cupcake than most. I used my extra brutte cocoa powder this time in the cupcakes and it made these cupcakes even better. I frosted them with a cream cheese frosting. I never really follow a frosting recipe, but the general rule I follow for a cream cheese frosting is equal amounts of cream cheese and butter, creamed together, then I add just enough powdered sugar so that it taste good but isn’t too sweet. For this frosting I used a half pound of cream cheese and a half pound of butter, and I probably added about 5-6 cups of powdered sugar, I didn’t really count but that is my estimate. I always add good vanilla, like a Madagascar vanilla, it makes a big difference. O-and a pinch of salt,makes a big difference I think.

Since my last 3 posts have been sweet things, how about something savory?? How does a lentil sausage soup sound?? Check back tomorrow for the recipe :)

Unbelievable, Amazing, Whopper Cupcakes

This one is for all of those who love malted milk balls and who love malt in general. I mean, who wouldn't like malt?! It's simply the best! And when you put that delicious malted flavor into a cupcake..well your just pushing all the right buttons. I've made these cupcakes twice now, both times I have gotten rave reviews, especially about the frosting. It's quit possibly one of my favorite frostings ever. I got this recipe from the wonderful blog our recipe club.

The only thing I do differently with the recipe is the way I mix the ingredients together. I don't know why but the way this recipe says how to incorporate the ingredients together makes me nervous, even though I'm sure they would turn out just fine! But I am kinda weird in that when I make a cake I always add the dry ingredients into the butter/egg mixture alternating with the wet. So what I do is blend the oil, eggs, and vanilla together and I add the sour cream into the milk/malt mixture. After the eggs are blended into the oil mixture I add the dry and wet ingredients, begining and ending with the dry (I do 1/3 of the dry at a time, so you will do 3 additions of dry ingredients). So you can make these cupcakes with my mixing instructions if you are super anal like me, or just use the directions listed bellow in the recipe, because they will probably turn out just as good. Enjoy!

{natalie's super yummy Whopper cupcakes}

2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 cup malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add milk mixture, oil and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla, beating just until combined.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 15-17 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely on racks.

Frost and garnish w/malted milk balls if desired

Malt Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup malted milk powder
6-7 cup powdered sugar

Blue food coloring

In a large bowl, beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth. You may need to add more or less powdered sugar depending on desired consistency. Add 6 to 8 drops of food coloring, mix well. Add more if you would like a deeper color. Frost cupcakes, top with a Whopper-malted milk ball & enjoy!

Baby bump and baby cupcakes

Here are some pictures of the other baby shower I had yesterday. Thanks mom and Kori for throwing me such a beautiful shower, and to all of you who made such amazing food for it! It was so much fun:)

I made mini cupcakes for it as well as cupcake pops. I thought the cupcakes turned out really cute, I had so much fun dolling them up with cute sprinkles and gems:)

Just two weeks to go....although I wouldn't be mad if she came early, I'm ready for her!

This is just one of the darling dresses my mother in law sent me from Italy,
she and my father in law and living there at the moment serving an LDS mission.
I think my little girl is going to be super fashionable with all of the adorable clothes
I got!

Ina's Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

For a long time I have wanted to make Ina Garten's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes . The recipe looked so amazing, so finally a few weeks ago I did. And they were delicious! Probably my favorite chocolate cupcake I have made so far. Definitely the best texture of ANY cupcake I have EVER made! It was perfect-moist, not too dense not too fluffy, just perfect. And they rose beautifully. It's been a struggle I have found to find a cupcake recipe completely from scratch that will rise perfectly. I hate when they just rise to the rim of the cupcake liner. These formed the most perfect domed top. Can't wait to make them again. I am going to see if I can try to make these into vanilla cupcakes. One thing I didn't do to the cupcakes was add the coffee, and they were still delicious.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons brewed coffee
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup good cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing, recipe follows
• Chopped salted peanuts, to decorate, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frost each cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing and sprinkle with chopped peanuts, if desired.

Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing:

nocoupons

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

100th Post! And a Whopper of a recipe!

It's very exciting that this is my 100th post! This blog has been so much fun for me. It enables me to share with others what I love-food! I am not the most creative writer nor am I the best food photographer, but I have been very dedicated to posting only the recipes I think are exceptional so I hope you guys have enjoyed them. Now I couldn't post just any recipe for my 100th post. I knew I had to make something special: Introducing the Jumbo Malted Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. If you are a fan of malt you will love these! I have been wanting to make these for a while. I am a HUGE malt fan, anything with malt I am all for it. This recipe called for regular malted milk powder, however my grocery store only had chocolate malt powder. I was a little disappointed but after I made them and took my first bite, any disappointment I had immediately disappeared! I think what makes these cupcakes really special is the buttercream. I think if you make this you will find yourself liking the bowl clean as I did. This recipe recommends you make the jumbo sized cupcakes which i didn't have a pan for so I just made them in regular cupcake tins and it worked out great. Hope you enjoy this lovely recipe!

Jumbo Malted Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
from Shelly Kaldunski's book "cupcakes"

1 2/3 c. flour
2/3 c. malted milk powder
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. whole milk
6 T. unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. Line a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan with jumbo liners.

in a bowl, whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl whisk together the mlk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Add teh milk mixture to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, Stir in teh chopped chocolate.

Divide the batter evenly among the prerared muffin cups, filling each about one half full. Bake until lightly golden and a tooth pick inserted in teh center of a cupcake comes otu clean, 25-28 min. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 min. Transfer teh cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Frost cupcakes with buttercream. Top with chopped chocolate malt balls.

Buttercream
3 large egg whites at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces at room temp
1 tsp vanilla

In a large, clean heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over simmer water in a saucepan (but not touching) and heat the mixture, whisking constantly, utnil the sugar has completely idssolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160 f on an instant-read thermometer), about 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites mixture until it is fluffy, cooled to room temp, and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes.

With the mixture on medium-low speed, add the salt and the butter, a few pieces at a time, beating well aftert each additions, If the frosting appears to separate or is very liquid afer all the butter is added, continue to beat on high speed until it is smooth and creamy, 3-5 minutes more. Add the flavoring and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Use right away.

Chocolate Malt Buttercream: Make buttercream as above, add: 2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder whisked into 4 oz semisweet chocolate, meltede and slightly cooled; and 1/4 cup malted milk powder whisked into 1/4 cup milk until dissolved

8 years is way too long....

I know I haven't posted in quit a few days but I have been pretty busy. My life long friend from Milwaukee came to visit last Saturday. It had been eight years since we had seen each other! We first became friends when we were three years old. We were the type of friends that as soon as we woke up we were together and were together till the moment we had to go to bed. I moved away from Milwaukee when I was 11, so it's been hard to see each other often but we still keep in touch. It was such a blast to have Lindsey visit. Every time we see each other we seem to pick up right where we left off. Of course during her visit I had to introduce her to the yummy things in Utah.

Two of my favorite people together! My best friend Lindsey and my
husband Micah.

At Sete Bello in Salt Lake City, the best Italian pizza around!
My favorite pizza of theirs is the marinara, it has no cheese but just
crushed tomatoes, oregano, and lots of crushed garlic all over it! My
husband complains that I smell like garlic for a week after eating that pizza
but it's totally worth it!

We had a fun night up at Sundance with some
Dippidee cupcakes! The frosting is thick and piled high-delicious!

It was so fun to see Lindsey and I know we wont wait another 8 years before we see eachother again!

Girls Day Out

A couple days ago my mom and little sister and I decided to have a fun girls night. We first stopped at the Blue Lemon to have some fish tacos then headed over to Dear Lizzie for a treat. Blue Lemon has many yummy cupcakes and treats but we wanted to shop around a bit so Dear Lizzie it was. I have never posted about their cupcakes and I think it is about time. First of all, they are super cute and girly. The best part about them is the frosting. Very thick frosting piled high. The cake itself is pretty average but the frosting makes the whole thing work. It was fun to grab a cupcake with my mom and sis and feel girly.

All of our goodies: My mom had the cookie, my sis had the cupcake
with chocolate frosting (she is a chocolate kinda girl) and I had the
cupcake with vanilla frosting (I am a vanilla girl)

The turkey pesto sandwich is definitely worth getting

Mom very excited to eat her cookie :)

Now take a look at that frosting, just the way I like it, thick, piled high
and delicious!

No Cupcake Liners? No Problem!

The other day I was reading Utah Loves Cupcakes and came across the post about the Blue Cattle Truck Vanilla. It went on to say how Marlo Scott, owner of Sweet Revenge in NYC used the vanilla at her bakery. I watched the video of her on Martha and was so intrigued by her cupcakes. Instead of baking them in cupcake liners she used parchment paper. I couldn't stop thinking about the idea until I tried it! They turned out really fun and I think they would look darling at a wedding or a special event, or just to have around the house for hubby and me to eat:) I wish I would have filled the parchment up a little higher, like 3/4 instead of filling them up 1/2 full like I did. I think they would have looked even better. Often I want to make cupcakes but realize I don't have cupcake liners but now I will have an alternative!

Now as for the cupcake. I had some buttermilk in my fridge that I needed to use up so I searched for a vanilla buttermilk recipe. Everyone needs a good stand by chocolate and vanilla cupcake recipe. I have my chocolate recipe which I love but had yet to find a super yummy vanilla one...until now! This recipe was absolutely amazing! Such wonderful flavor! I even made some simple syrup to put on top of them right when they came out of the oven which made them even more scrumptious! I put a drop of almond flavoring in the simple syrup to give it more of an almondy flavor. This will be my standby vanilla cupcake recipe until I find something better, so if anyone has a favorite of theirs I would love to hear about it! Until then I will be competely happy using this yummy recipe.

Which do you like better?

I don't think I will take the time to cut parchment for every
batch of cupcakes I make but once in a while it is a fun
twist!

As for the frosting, I just threw some butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and almond extract together. Wish I had exact measurements but I dont-sorry!

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ tsp almond extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla and almond extracts until mixture is smooth.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.
Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Let cupcakes cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the muffin pan. Cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Simple Syrup
*equal parts sugar and water. Bring to a boil, boil a couple of minutes till sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Brush on cupcakes with pastry brush while cupcakes are still hot.

TO MAKE PARCHMENT LINERS
Cut a piece of parchment 5 1/2 inches square. Center it over cupcake pan and squish it down with a plastic cup. Marlo Scott of Sweet Revenge uses unlbeached parchment, I couldn't find any so I just used white.

Hi Hat Cupcakes!

I am always looking for new ways to make cupcakes and always looking for the latest and greatest recipe. Well I have to say that this new cupcake is probably the best one I have made yet! The idea was inspired by Cassie from How to Eat a Cupcake. I was looking at her blog and as soon as I saw her Hi Hat cupcakes I knew I had to make them! Right that second I went into my kitchen and got to work. I had some leftover almond swiss meringue buttercream in the fridge and thought I would pair that with a devils food cupcake-and I am so glad I did! The flavors were wonderful! I love anything almond flavored and when it's paired with chocolate it's even better. I gave one to my dad and he said that these were "special" cupcakes because he thought they were so good. And I had to agree, usually I am hesitant to say that what I made was amazing but I had no humility this time. These were amazing!! I am actually contemplating making them right now after talking about them. I hope you have a change to give these a try! If you want better instructions and pictures for dipping the cupcakes visit Cassie's blog here.

Don't you just want to dive right in!?!

Devils Food Cupcakes:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 packed brown sugar
4 T. butter at room temp
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat over to 350.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into bowl. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium igh speed, beat the sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 min. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the water and buttermilk, beating on low speed until just combined; srape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium high speed just until no traces of flour remaing, about 30 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Almond SMBC
3 large egg whites at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces at room temp
1 tsp almond flavoring

In a large, clean heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over simmer water in a saucepan (but not touching) and heat the mixture, whisking constantly, utnil the sugar has completely idssolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160 f on an instant-read thermometer), about 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites mixture until it is fluffy, cooled to room temp, and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes.

With the mixture on medium-low speed, add the salt and the butter, a few pieces at a time, beating well aftert each additions, If the frosting appears to separate or is very liquid afer all the butter is added, continue to beat on high speed until it is smooth and creamy, 3-5 minutes more. Add the flavoring and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Use right away.

Chocolate Coating
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

Put the chocolate and oil in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over a pot of barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is just melted. Scrape it into a bowl and cool slightly, about 15 minutes.

It's a girl cupcakes!

My sister in Law Kori had a baby shower last saturday and of course I jumped at the chance to make baby shower cupcakes! Kori is having a girl in Februrary. I couldn't be more excited! So I wanted these cupcakes to be cute and special. However, I did have come complications with some of them but in turn learned a very good lesson which I will share with you so none of you have to make the same mistake I did.

First of all, Kori has celiacs disease so I had to make some gluten free cupcakes, and for the non gluten free-I hate to say it I got so busy that I used a cake mix. But they were good! I have never really tasted anything gluten free that I have thought it could pass as non gluten free but I have to say differently about these cuppies. They were delish! Especially with the frosting which I will get to right now...

Ahh the frosting, I think I have found the best vanilla frosting recipe ever! I tweaked it a little but let me tell ya, I got so many compliments with it and because the frosting was so dang good I ended up eating five, yes five cupcakes! I know- what a horrible way to start out the new year right? The taste was so yummy it kind of out weighed the guilt. However, for the first batch I frosted the non gluten free cupcakes with I used a mixture of cream and milk instead of just milk. I noticed that the frosting began to separate as I used it and it was very difficult to pipe with and once I did pipe a cute flower it just fell apapart! So I will NEVER use cream in my frosting unless someone lets me in on a secret I do not know but for me it was so much easier to use the frosting without the cream. So here is the frosting recipe, and for all of you gluten free people I will work on getting that cupcake recipe which my mom has. If any of you think you have a better vanilla frosting recipe than this let me know! I am always looking for the best of the best!

Magnolia's Vanilla buttercream frosting

Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes*

**My additions in red

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

• 6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

• 1/2 cup milk

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• pinch of salt
• insides of 2 vanilla beans
  

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla and vanilla bean. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add pinch of salt. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

These are the gluten free cupcakes, my piping looked

so much better on these because the frosting was so

much easier to work with.

Here is the frosting with the cream in it. You can see that
my piping just fell apart. I was so sad they didn't look
as cute as they could have!

More with the cream in the frosting.
The petals on these cuppies aren't defined like the ones on the
gluten free cupcakes with the frosting made with just milk.

My sis in law Kori anxiously waiting to dive into her gluten free cupcake!

And I just had to add this. This is the quilt my mom made for the
baby. Isn't it just so cute?!

And now...the debut of my mini cupcakes!

After being inspired by minis cupcakes in Utah I decided to make my own creations. I used my devils food cupcake recipe that I used for my Halloween cuppies, and the I used a cream cheese frosting. I wanted them to have a really fun top so I filled the cupcake liners almost to the top so they could really over flow. It worked out pretty well. I also tried some new piping techniques that I am really excited about! I have always wanted to know how to do a rose type of flower and I played around with a few tips till I got the one I was looking for. So enjoy the following pics that document my very first mini cupcakes! They were so fun to make that I'm sure you will see a lot more popping up on my blog!

Here is the rose piping I did. I was really happy with how it
turned out considering it was my first. Next time I will hopefully perfect it
even more! I think these cuppies would be really cute for a wedding or special occasion.

My mini army of cupcakes all lined up!

And a top view of all the different piping.

I finally made them!

For the past few months I have been dying to make cookie dough cupcakes. The idea was so intriguing and I thought how could that be bad? Cookie dough in a cupcake! Definitely a winner. So after months of wanting to make them, I finally did! It was my brothers birthday and I thought that that would be the perfect opportunity. There was a recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor for cookie dough cupcakes but I just made a plain yellow cake mix and put a frozen cookie dough chunk in the center. If you buy the tollhouse cookie dough already cut in cubes (the one that makes 24 cookies) I found that just one of those cubes was the perfect amount of cookie dough.

These cupcakes were super yummy and really fun for people to eat because there was a little surprise of cookie dough in the middle! For the frosting I did something I haven't done before. I wanted to make a SMBC but didn't have the right equipment for it. So...I invented a new frosting! I made a traditional chocolate buttercream with melted symphony bar and cocoa powder. Then I did the first step for SMBC which is to basically make the meringue and then I folded that into the buttercream. It made it so light and fluffy and not too sweet. People loved them and I can't wait to make them again!

Creepy crawler cupcakes...a little late but still cute:)

This past week has been a crazy one. I have been planning and preparing every second for my grand opening of the spa/boutique I have in my home. It was yesterday and it went great! I will do a post about it but first things first, I made these cute Halloween cupcakes and need to post them even though it's late. Please forgive me! I would have posted them earlier but like I said my grand opening took all of my time, I was so busy I couldn't even do my Daring Bakers Challenge for this month :( I was very sad I had to miss my first challenge. So this month I am hoping will be a little bit more relaxed and I will be able to post a little bit more.

So back to the cupcakes, these are the yummiest homemade devils food cupcakes. Their texture is moist and the flavor unbelievable. the recipe is from the book "cupcakes" by Shelly Kaldunski. I have been very happy with this book. So feel free to try these out and you don't have to make them halloween themed you could just make them normal glazed cupcakes without the spider web. Enjoy!

Creepy Crawler Halloween Cupcakes

Devils Food Cupcakes:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 packed brown sugar
4 T. butter at room temp
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat over to 350.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into bowl. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium igh speed, beat the sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 min. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the water and buttermilk, beating on low speed until just combined; srape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium high speed just until no traces of flour remaing, about 30 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Milk chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup cream
1 T corn syrup
pinch salt
8 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine the cream, cornsyrup and salt and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and add chocolate; let stand for 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Transfer the chocolate glaze to a small bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Vanilla Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract.

In a bowl whisk together the sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth; the glaze should be spreadable. If it seems too thick whisk in additons milk in a few drops at a time. If too thin add more sugar.

So heres what you do!!

Spoon the chocolate glaze of the cupcakes and then with the vanilla glaze places in a piping bag with a small tip, make circles on the cupcake, like this:

Then with a tooth pick, starting in the middle, drag it out to the edges and it will look this likes!;
I even put some in a box to give them as a gift, look how cute!

What happends in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas...

And what I mean by that is I can still feel the result of the fantabulous cupcakes from the Cupcakery and the unbelivable meal I had at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill resting snugly on my thighs. But it was definitely worth it. A few weeks ago I took a trip to Vegas with some girl friends to go to the Esthetics Conference. I still haven't gotten the pic of me eating at Mesa Grill from my friend, but I couldn't wait any longer to post the cupcake from the Cupcakery. Definitely a life changing moment when I dove into one of these bad boys...

In front of the Cupcakery!

I couldn't decide on one cupcake so I got
a strawberry one and coconut.

Aren't they so pretty!

And my favorite, the coconut one, It was absolutely
amazing, it was topped with edible glitter which made
it that much better.