Sunday, September 30, 2012

Bacon!

Hello All!

I had a request for bacon cupcakes this week.  Not the flavor, just the design. 

Lets start with the chocolate recipe:

Mix the dry ingredients together

Eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla

Have I mentioned I love my KitchenAid :)

Bake, and voila!  Chocolate cupcakes

I used a buttercream frosting

I made little bacon strips out of fondant. 


Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter softened






2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Paper line 20 muffin cups.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Beat sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla in large bowl.  Gradually beat in flour mixture alternating with milk.  Spoon 1/2 cup batter into each muffin cup.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I have started a new facebook page, check it out :)
http://www.facebook.com/simplysweetmn

Hope you all have a great week!
Thanks for looking.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Oven love

Hello all!!

We finally got a new oven :) 




















I had to test it out.  So, I made three different kinds of cupcakes.  Excessive, yes, but worth it.

First, I made a marble cupcake.  I have a cake due in October for marble and wanted to try a new recipe.  I am pretty pleased with it.

Second was a carrot cake cupcake.  I have made this as a cake before.  The new KitchenAid has been wonderful!  It is so nice to be able to prep something else while it is mixing.  I wish I would have invested in a mixer a long time ago.


Save the best for last, Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes.  It is a yellow sponge cake with a pastry creme in the middle and chocolate ganache on top.  So good!  It took a lot longer to make, but was worth it.


I made the last two for my co-workers to say thank you for the KitchenAid.  It is the least I can do.

I am so glad to be able to bake again!  Hope you all have a great week.
Thanks for looking :)


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Box Pops

Hello!

We closed on our house two weeks ago :)  I am so excited to be a homeowner.  We have had good things and bad things happen these past two weeks.  One of the bad: my oven is broken :(  I am waiting for the repair man to come out and look at it.  My co-workers went in and bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer for a housewarming gift, so I am going nuts not being able to bake!

One of my girlfriends and her husband love my baking. To them, I am Cupcake Jenni. She saw a Cake Pop kit and thought of me. 



 
It came with all the essentials.  I just needed to add water, oil, egg and butter


She brought it in for me today to make for them. I was a little leery, but without an oven, I was willing to do anything to bake. The kit required me to microwave the cake so it worked out perfect. I still don't know how I feel with that....
I rolled the balls and got everything ready for dipping
You can convert the box into a cake pop stand to let them dry
The concept is great, but they didn't taste as great.  If you are ever looking to make some for the first time, call me and I can help you through it so you can get pops that look and taste fabulous!!

I am hoping to have my oven fixed by this weekend so I can bake some cupcakes.  I have a couple recipes already picked :)

Till then, thanks for looking and have a great week!