Mini Chocolate Cupcakes

Made these cute and yummy chocolate cupcakes for a birthday!


Made them mini and colourful.


I used marthastewart's recipe!


I think they were a hit!!

Cake, cat and dog!

A couple of weekends ago, prepared a cake for my step-mom's 75th birthday. Didn't quite turn out as I wished - but still was delicious!



Two of the guests of the party - LOL!

Special Cake for a Special Guy

Last Saturday we surprised my brother with a party for his 50th birthday. Well, we didn't really surprise him as he knew he was having a party, but the surprise was who would be there!


There was family and lots of friends. I am so jealous because he has kept most of his friends since childhood!!


Since he is my favorite brother (and my only one!!), I decided to make him a special cake!


I started with a basic chocolate cake with chocolate icing


Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake

Hershey Website

2 cups sugar (used 1 1/2 cups)

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk (used lowfat)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (used Canola)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.   

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.   

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings. 

PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

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I had seen on pinterest, this cake made with Kitkat (here's one and another and this is the one that inspired me!)

I had bought a few KitKats, but we saw these cookies (Pirouline) at Costco last Saturday morning and Ben suggested we try decorating with them instead!

They were a bit too long, so Ben cut them a bit and I decorated with some smarties.

Brought the cake to the restaurant and it was a big hit!! Only problem was there wasn't enough cake for everyone :( - I didn't get to taste it - so I guess I will have to make it again!

Today's my Birthday!

Yup - today is the day that I grow one year older... Today is not the day I am celebrating though. It's a good thing, because we are at the beginning of a big snowstorm.  I celebrated last Saturday with my family.  Went out to a beautiful Italian restaurant and had a wonderful meal. I then invited everyone back to my home for dessert... Yes, I baked cupcakes for my birthday!!!



I wanted something lemony and fresh - so I tried these Lemon Cupcakes

Luscious Lemon Cupcakes/Fairy Cakes
(Makes 24) (Made 20)

3 large eggs
1 cup milk (used low-fat milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 packed cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar (used 1 1/4 cups)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
Grated zest of 2 lemons (about 1 tablespoon)

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put 2½-inch paper bake cups in two standard muffin tins. In small bowl, lightly combine the eggs, a quarter of the milk, and the vanilla.

2 In large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for a minute to "sift." Add the softened butter and remaining milk. Mix on low speed until combined. With mixer on medium-high speed, beat for a minute and a half. Scrape the bowl.

3 Beat in the egg mixture in three batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape the bowl and, with spatula, stir in lemon zest. (I do it by hand because the zest tends to get tangled up in the beaters.)

4 Using a 1/4-cup measure, fill the bake cups with a scant 1/4 cup of batter. (If you use a full 1/4 cup, the baked cupcakes will have a bit of an "overhang" on them, and you might only get 23 of them.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 to 24 minutes or until they are golden and test done with a toothpick.

5 Immediately remove from pans and cool on wire rack for an hour. They must be thoroughly cool before frosting.




Lemon Buttercream Frosting (made half the recipe)
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature (5 tablespoons salted butter)
1 pound powdered sugar, unsifted (2 cups powdered sugar)
1/16 teaspoon salt (didn't use as I used salted butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons lemon juice

In bowl of stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the salt, vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

You'll need to cut back on the liquid, probably by half, if you're going to get fancy with the frosting. I thought about it but couldn't decide which decorating tip I wanted to use, so I just put my cake decorating gear away and swiped on the frosting with a small offset spatula and threw on some long strips of zest for color.



The birthday girl on Saturday night :)

Happy Birthday W

Today, my nephew W turned 8 - time flies by!!! Went to my stepsister to celebrate the big event!! He was so happy... he got a Wii!!! :) Can't wait to try it!! ;)

Of course, baked some chocolate cupcakes... mmmm! :)

Here's the birthday boy!!