Contest Time!!!

Ok!

So I need some inspiration, and I know that it will be hard to get without some sort of excitement, or bribery. So I'm adding a little of both.

I found some toasted coconut marshmallows (that are phenomenal) and I want to use them in a cupcake sometime in the near future.
What I want to know is what kind of cupcake/ frosting, etc would go with it, and how I would use the marshmallows.

So here's what you do.

1. Come up with a rocking idea for a cupcake, or even just some flavor inspirations.
2. Email your fabulous ideas to me at: kathrine.shindigs@gmail.com
3. After I've read through all the ideas, I will pick a winner!

What you could win:

I'm going to make a cupcake baking kit, complete with:

•  Fun & easy recipes (from my blog and more)
• Cute Cupcake Liners
• Disposable Pastry Bags
• A 7 piece Cupcake Decorating Kit.
• Possibly more! :)

The contest will run until July 16, 2013.

If you are the winner, I will email you, send you your prize, and bake your (very prestigious) award winning recipe! It will also be featured on my blog, and I will give complete credit to you! :)

Also, you can enter more than once, but remember, quality over quantity! Just because you submit 15 ideas, doesn't mean you're going to win. :)

Any questions or concerns, just email me at the address above!

Kinda Like Key Lime Pie.... Kinda Not...

Hello friends, family & strangers!

Before I get into my marvelous cupcake of the week, I want to make an announcement.

I'm going to have a contest.... with prizes...
Calm down... its not that exciting. :)
Anyway. I'll be posting about it soon. Just be keeping your eyes out!!!

Back to the main story....

This week's cupcake has been waiting to be made for 2 weeks now...
All the ingredients waited patiently for me to get my act together and do some baking.

Pardon the Spongebob reference... It was too perfect.

Anyway. 2 weeks flew by, and I finally had a reason to bake besides procrastinating *audience gasps*
I needed wanted to bring cupcakes to a movie night my friend was having. Voila. I had an excuse.

So here it is, My 'kinda like key lime pie, kinda not' cupcake.
But since thats an obnoxious mouthful, we will go with this:

The finished product! :)

Key Lime & Coconut Cupcakes 
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Oven Temp: 350º

Cupcake Ingredients

• Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake Mix
• 3 Eggs
• 1 C. Water
• 1/3 C. Oil
• 1/2 C Shredded Coconut
• Cupcake Liners

Frosting / Garnish Ingredients

• 1 can Pillsbury Key Lime Frosting
• Shredded Coconut for Garnish
• Pastry Bag, if desired

Preheat oven to 350º. In a bowl, Combine eggs, water & oil. In another bowl, combine dry cake mix and coconut. Dump cake & coconut mixture in with the wet ingredients and stir until well combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Now the frosting process is EXTREMELY complicated.

Take the frosting and put in pastry bag with desired tip, etc. (I used a Wilton #21)

Frost cupcake, garnish with coconut, and you're done!

Note: You could also use those cute little drink umbrellas for a decoration, but I don't believe in non-edible decoration. But you can use whatever you'd like. :)

An Experiment..... Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

Hey there!

Long time no see! (actually more like 3 minutes) But who's counting?

I decided  was craving sweets, am a poor college student and only had brownie mix in the cupboard. to try and make cupcakes out of brownie mix and ingredients I had around the apartment.

But I can't just make brownie cupcakes. I had to push the envelope a bit and make a filling.

Here's how I did it!

Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

Prep Time: 15 - 20 minutes
Bake Time: 15 - 17 minutes
Oven Temp: 350

Ingredients

• 1 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix (the one that is made for a 9x13 pan)
• 1 C Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
• 3/4 C Marshmallow Fluff
• Eggs
• Oil
• Water

Preheat the oven. While the oven is heating up, mix the marshmallow fluff and the peanut butter together in a bowl. Set aside. Make brownie mix as directed. Fill a cupcake pan WITHOUT LINERS 2/3 full. Then take a little bit of the peanut butter fluff, and place it on top of the brownie mix.

Top off each cup with enough batter to cover the peanut butter fluff. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!!!

Thanks for sticking around!

I'm open to any suggestions or questions! Just give me a shout!

Much Love

Kathrine

Lemon Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Welcome Back!!!

I'm finally back from hiding.

So this is the first of 2 recipes I will being posting.

I was craving something fresh and summery, and nothing is more like summer than lemonade!

Here's what you need!

Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time 15 - 20 min
Bake Time 12 - 14 minutes
Oven Temp: 350°

Cupcake Ingredients

• Betty Crocker Lemon Cake Mix
• Eggs
• Oil
• Water

Frosting / Garnish Ingredients

• 1 Can Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1 1/4 C pureed frozen raspberries
• 1 bag lemon drops
• Pastry Bag, if desired.

Preheat the oven. Make cake mix as directed, and bake until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. For the frosting, puree the DEFROSTED frozen raspberries in a blender. Combine the frosting and 1 1/4 C puree in a bowl until well blended.

After the cupcakes are cool, pipe the raspberry frosting on. Garnish with a lemon drop.

These keep better if they are refrigerated.

This leads to a little side story.

I had made my normal deliveries to my friends, and coworkers, and still had a couple cupcakes left over. I had to go to the bank, and the cupcakes were getting a little warm, so I decided to take them inside.

After almost no convincing, I was officially out of cupcakes, and had 4 very happy bankers. :)

Much Love!

Kathrine 

Hellllloooo!!! Long Time No See!

Hello all!

I promise I didn't forget about procrastinating. I just procrastinated on procrastinating, if that makes sense. So here's what happened.
Life.

Thats what happened.

Finals, Post-Finals Crashing...

You know all that good 'end of the semester' crap.

Anywho,

To make up for my lack of attention to you all, I am posting 2 different recipes!!!

YAY!

In other news, this blog has gotten over 700 views since I started it in March.

700.

So thanks for that. I love you all, and I love that you guys keep coming back, even when I'm not posting!!!

Much Love!

Kathrine

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup......Cake!!!

Hello all!

I have a ton of homework this weekend.
But I also have baking supplies.
Which do you think won?

Anyway, this week I've been on a 'forget the diet, I want chocolate' kick.
It ended up carrying over into my cupcakes for the week.
I had so much fun making filled cupcakes for Easter that I'm at it again.

This week, I made a chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter filling, and chocolate frosting.


Here's what you need:

Reese's Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling and Chocolate Frosting

Oven Temp: 350°
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 15-17 minutes
Total Time: ~ 1-1.5 hours

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

• Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate Cake Mix
• 1/3 c. oil
• 1 1/4 c. Water
• 3 Eggs
• Cupcake Corer (or a knife)
• Cupcake liners

Filling:

• 1 Jar Creamy Peanut Butter
• 13 oz Jar of Marshmallow Fluff
• Pastry Bag

Garnish/Frosting

• Sea Salt
• Chopped Peanuts
• 1 can Betty Crocker Whipped Milk Chocolate Frosting

Prepare the cake mix per the directions on the box. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Wait until they are completely cooled to core them.

While you are waiting, make your filling by taking equal parts (no specific measurements here... I made it up as I went along) of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff and mixing them in a bowl. There's no wrong way to do this part. Just make sure that the peanut butter flavor doesn't get masked by the marshmallow. 

*** a while later***

Core your cupcakes, or cut out a hole with a knife.

Put your filling into a pastry bag, (no tip needed) and fill the cores of the cupcakes. Smooth the top a little bit so that the frosting will sit nicely.

The Cupcakes all ready for delivery!

Now frost the cupcakes. (I used a pastry bag) Sprinkle A LITTLE 

sea salt on top of the frosting, and finish with the chopped peanuts.

There you go!!!

Bonus Story: 

I can't take these into work, because of allergies. So I decided I'm going to deliver them to friends and family around town... I can't wait!! :D

What was supposed to be an Easter post turned into an early April post. :)

So I've been pretty upfront about being a master procrastinator. I successfully procrastinated, and baked cupcakes last week  two weeks ago, like I always do. But, I completely forgot to post them.... Whoops...

To be honest, my professional procrastination has caught up to me, and school has taken precedence. :/

BUT! I will bake cupcakes this weekend, if it means using a textbook as a place to rest my batter-covered spatula.

Anyway....

My family had a get together for Easter, and I got put in charge of baking cupcakes.
I wanted to do something fresh, fun, and not 'Easter-y.'


My (awesome) roommate got me this Wilton cupcake book to further expand my knowledge, so I decided it was only fitting to choose my recipe from there. :)

As per usual, I couldn't just follow the recipe. I made my own little tweaks to make what I thought would be a great cupcake.

Fruit Tart Cupcakes 

Oven Temp: 350°
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 18-20 minutes
Total Time: ~ 1.5 Hours

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 Box Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake Mix
• Eggs, Water & Oil to prepare mix
• Cupcake Liners
• Cupcake Pan

Pastry Cream Ingredients:

• 6 T granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c. milk
• 4 Egg Yolks
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 T. unsalted butter.
• Pastry Bag

Topping Ingredients:

• Strawberries, sliced
• Blueberries
• Kiwi, sliced & peeled
• Whip Cream
• Pastry bag

Additional Items Needed:

Cupcake Corer: 

This was an impulse buy at Walmart. I don't think it was more than a couple bucks.

It is perfect for a filled cupcake like this. Otherwise, you can just cut a hole with a knife.

Anyway... on to the baking...

Cupcakes:

Prepare the cake mix according to the box. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, and let cool completely.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, you can cut your holes out for your filling.

Pastry Cream:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in egg yolks and milk until combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spoon until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter.

Pour mixture into a bowl, and press plastic wrap down onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent it from forming a skin.

Place in fridge until chilled, or ready to use.

Toppings: 

Slice strawberries & kiwis. Keep refrigerated until used.

Assembly:

Using a pastry bag, fill the 'holes' in your cupcakes, plus a little extra. Spread the 'extra' around on the top of the cupcake, making sure it is even.

Place a kiwi slice on each cupcake. Then, with a pastry bag, put a little bit of whip cream on top of the kiwi. Then arrange the strawberries and blueberries as you like.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

There you have it!

Again, I apologize for the very late post, and will be back at the baking this weekend!