just because...

I found this recipe online a while ago and have been wanting to make these Samoa Cupcakes (after the girl scout cookie). The only problem I had with these is the frosting...it was wayyy too sweet so I suggest backing off on the powdered sugar, and I should do that the next time I bake these. You can use any type of chocolate cake you'd like/prefer, and all that was added to the top is toasted shredded coconut and chocolate drizzle.

caramel frosting:

melt 1.5 sticks unsalted butter in a pan. once the butter is melted, add 2 cups light brown sugar and .5 teaspoon salt. let sugar dissolve then take off heat and cool for a couple minutes before adding 1/2 cup of milk and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. you must let this cool completely! then pour into mixer and add 4 cups of confectioners sugar and mix. (although the recipe calls for 4 cups confectioners sugar, start with 2 cups and add a little more until you get the right consistency.)

July 4th!

Obviously yesterday was July 4th and obviously I was going to make an Independence Day cupcake. I made a yellow buttermilk cake with a cream cheese frosting. The cake was filled with raspberry jam. The jam and cream cheese go realllly well together and the cake was extremely moist. I wish the blue frosting was darker but I just could not get it to be the color I wanted no matter how much food coloring I put in it. But you still get the idea of a red, white, and blue themed cupcake.

I hope everyone's 4th of July was great! I went into Manhattan and saw the Macy's fireworks display LIVE for the first time in about 5 years and it was amazing!!

summer plans!

I'm so excited for this summer! On top of graduating from high school and getting ready for college, I'm excited to come up with new recipes and bake a lot! I won't be able to do anything while in school because I'll have no stove of course so I plan to do a lot in the next two months. I've been browsing online and there are a lot of cool easy and challenging dishes I want to try! I'm excited to share them too!!

celebration

So I made these for my cousins graduation party. I get most of my cupcakes now from Martha Stewart's book so I made two types; a plain yellow buttermilk and a chocolate with peanut butter filling. The frosting was plain and kinda meringue-like so I added bits of reese's pb cups and made a sugar cookie that looked like a diploma! I probably made around 50 cupcakes and they're all gone!! Couldn't believe it but I guess 6 hours in the kitchen payed off.