Cupcake Galore

Can't believe June is already half way over! I've had my blog for a month and a half now give or take some and there is still MUCH more to come. I am trying my best to stick to my calendar but sometimes it's just so hard considering my very busy life. Not...sometimes I just like to take it easy on my Sundays! Not to say baking doesn't help me relax, but on hot summer days it's hard to be in a scorching kitchen that is very limited to baking space. I can't wait to someday have my own bakery where there is all the space in the universe! But for now, my tiny counter top will have to do. I can't wait to get my orders underway. First cake pop order in August! Thanks to Racquel's mother who has faith in my baking skills :)

Even though I skipped out on baking the biscotti last Sunday (I am making it tomorrow instead), I think that my cupcakes made up for the absence. I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my boss at the Crowne Plaza Baltimore last night and it turned out to be a blast! Good crowd, good friends, good bartender, and good times were had! I knew I'd be baking something for the party, so I figured that dipping out on the biscotti last weekend was not going to be a huge deal. I decided to make:

*Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips inside and a vanilla butter cream icing
*Simple vanilla cupcakes with Nutella butter cream frosting

Both were fantastic! The only thing I don't recommend counting on: the yield amount on the recipe. Every time I've baked cupcakes, the recipe always seems to make more! This isn't a bad thing at all though. The chocolate cupcake recipe I used this time said it would make 12-16 "medium sized" cupcakes. Now, what do you think a "medium sized" cupcake is? I was thinking a normal sized cupcake pan would yield these results. Nope! I ended up making about 34 of these suckers! And I still had the vanilla cupcakes to make!! In this case, I'm thinking the author's "medium sized" cupcake was actually a giant sized.

What not to do: I've used cupcake liners whenever baking cupcakes. I thought I was going to run out this time since my once thought normal sized cupcake pans ended up spitting out many more, so I decided to do one load without liners and sprayed the "non-stick" cupcake pan with Pam. All I have to say is thank goodness this recipe yielded many more than I expected! ;)

Another thing that worried me: My good old friend Jason tried one of the chocolate cupcakes after I frosted them and the chocolate chips seemed to sink to the bottom (which is somewhat expected) and a few got pulled off onto the cupcake liner. I was a tad disappointed but I thought to myself, whatever, as long as they taste delish! (Which turned out to be so). It turned out that once cooled completely and eaten last night (the day after making them) this didn't happen too much! *relief*

I was extremely proud of both of the icing consistencies! The trick to making butter cream is adding the perfect amount of powdered sugar. Both frostings were creamy and had that whipped sensation. They piped out of the pastry bag awesomely! (Yes, that is actually a word)

I highly recommend Nutella butter cream to anyone and everyone! It captures that chocolatey hazelnut flavor yet in the form of a creamy, homemade frosting. *Pats myself on the back*

I had lots of left over Nutella frosting so I added a little decoration on the vanilla butter cream frosted cupcakes. I love the satisfaction of others enjoying my creations! I'm ready when you are :)

Cheers!!