A family (and friends) affair!

The reception was held at a picnic site just outside of the park.  It was all dressed up with paper lanterns, hanging flower baskets, candles in colored jars and towers of cupcakes.

(photo courtesy of StO - Thank you!)

Just to point out all the DIY (that I know of!)....

Groom - ingenious hanging of paper lanterns with lights that came on in the dark....
Bride - gorgeous hanging plant center piece, as well as plants and flowers scattered around
Father of the Bride - sturdy, huge, cupcake towers
Mother of the Bride - hundreds of napkins and table runners for all of the tables
??? - painted jars, filled with sand and candles
Aunt and sisters of the Bride - cupcakes
Many hands - cupcake wrappers
StO of the Bride - coconut cake for cutting
Many many hands - clean and set up of site

I'm pretty sure that someone on the groom's side of the family designed the invitations and did much more that I just don't know about....

Congratulations and Best Wishes!!!

Teary-eyed and tired...

We're back.  And they are married.  We had a great time visiting with everyone.  I even managed to beat Dad in a game of Cribbage the first evening we were there, but it was a very close call and really came down to the last two hands. 

Thanks to my sister and aunt, all the cupcakes were done and frosted and looked and tasted fabulous.  I did help (baked three batches of the S'mores and frosted two more), but it seemed short to me.  Since I wasn't in charge of the camera this trip (too much else to do in too short a time), I don't have any pictures of the reception and the mountains of cupcakes to share with you.

What I do have, are the pictures of the Canyon that Mark took on his excursion with the boys.

That white tip is where the bride & groom hiked to on their first date...

(photo snapped right as they were pronounced "man & wife")

And this was the wedding ceremony site

 

Me & Mark, all dressed up

Ooooo Shiney....

The wedding is coming up soon.  It will be nice to visit with the family again this year.  Most times, I don't see everyone every year.  As the bridesmaid's dresses we have chosen have a nice v-neckline, they call for a nice necklace to go with it.  I've heard that the bride has chosen some earrings for us, but since I haven't seen them, I'm creating on the blind side here.  All I know is hot pink rhinestones in a silver setting, with a vintage feel.

My first inclination was to go with the wedding colors - yellow, pink, and orange.  Here we have three strands, one of each color, with a mixture of pearls, crystal, glass, and metal.  It's bright and cheerful and makes me happy.  The strands are each a little different in length, so they drape quite nicely.

Then, as I was putting away my supplies, the next necklace came together.  It has a more vintage feel to it, to me anyway.  Again, three strands, one with fuchsia pearls wound with ribbon and filigree beads, the second with glass beads in pink and black (maybe those should have been grey?), and the last a gunmetal twisted chain.  These are all brought together with a filigree and opal rhinestone "buckle".

So Bride2B, which do you think is going to be more appropriate?

Cupcake Test 014, S'More S'mores....

Last one for me....  Since the bride and groom both work at the Grand Canyon, it only seems appropriate that we finish with a S'mores cupcake.  This one is essentially from Annie's Eats.  It starts out with a base of graham cracker crumbs, then some chocolate cake (and some added ganache) and topped with marshmallow fluff frosting. 

Process Notes:  I used the dark chocolate cake mix by Betty Crocker and added in some mini-mallows to the cake batter before baking.  Don't bother, they just dissolve and add not a whit of texture or flavor to the cupcake.  Once they were baked, I scooped out a hollow with my melon baller and added a bit of chocolate ganache.  I tried to caramelize the frosting with my new torch (Whee!), but it just slid off the cupcake.  Instead, I toasted some marshmallows to add that extra something.

Tasting Notes:  These were much better than the first round of S'mores.  There was a distinct crumby graham cracker crust, the milk chocolate ganache echoed the Hershey bar, and the toasted marshmallows finished it off.  I think these are a winner!

Something to remember

How to bake 300 cupcakes  (includes link to cupcake boxes)

Cupcake Test 14, "Cherry Almond Cupcakes"

Cherries and almonds just seem to go together.  If you take a google across the web, there are cupcakes, biscotti, scones, cakes, tarts, slumps, clafouties, pies, cookies, and just about any other type of baked goodie you can think of made with a combination of cherries and almonds.  And that just scratches the surface. 

These particular cupcakes are from Better Homes & Gardens, a link provided by the BtB.  It's a buttermilk cupcake with maraschino cherries and almond goodness.

Dark, Okay, Slumpy

Process notes:  I made the cupcake recipe (almost) straight up.  The only change I made was instead of putting a half cherry in the top of each cupcake, I roughly chopped 2 dozen cherries and stirred them into the batter before baking.  This is the first time I have had troubles with my oven baking unevenly.  One side of the trays of cupcakes were darker brown, and the other end of the tray slumped terribly due to raw batter when it was removed from the oven.  I'll be sure to turn my trays half-way through baking from now on.

I made both the almond frosting and the cherry frosting, straight from the recipe.  I put both frostings into one piping bag, hoping for a random striping when I frosted the cupcakes.  Evidently, I didn't do too well at that either, however, I do like the delicate shading when both frostings are present.

I had the extra large Costco sized jar of maraschino cherries, and it was less than half full by the time I had decorated the cupcakes.

Tasting Notes:  Me - Almond = Yum.  Cherry = Yum.  Almond + Cherry = Yummy!  I liked the cherries folded into the batter.  I think the cupcakes were delicately flavored with almond, and if it weren't for the bits of cherry in them, you wouldn't taste the cherry at all.  The cherry juice made for a lovely colored cupcake, but I don't know that it added much flavor to either the cupcake or the frosting.  The almond frosting was mmmmm wonderful.  If there is such a thing as cherry extract, it might be a good thing to add a smidge of that to both the frosting and the cupcake batter to boost the cherry flavor. No more than 1/2 a teaspoon in each though.  All in all, lovely, festive, and tasty too.

Mark - Although maraschino cherries are not his favorite, they were a nice counterpoint to the almond flavor found in the cupcakes and in the frosting.  Again with the "Yum!"

Cupcake Test 13, "Cookie Dough Cupcakes"

Alternatively titled, "That's the way the Cookie (Dough) Crumbles".   Is there anyone (over the age of 20 anyway) who doesn't remember licking the beater after making a batch of chocolate chip cookies?  There's just something about the taste and texture of raw cookie dough that brings a smile to our hearts.  But, with the scares of "bad things" that raw eggs have brought in the years, seldom do we actually enjoy that childhood experience any longer.  Fear not, the cookie dough portion of the cupcakes (and the truffles too) are free of raw eggs.

The BtB pulled together a couple of links for cookie dough cupcakes.  The first from Love & Olive Oil, and another from Annies-Eats.  Love & Olive Oil is a non-dairy version, however, the egg-free cookie dough is the important part here.  I used the cupcake recipe from Annies-Eats, the cookie dough from Love & Olive Oil, and the frosting from both of them.

Process Notes:  I made enough of the cookie dough to make the truffles (also from Love & Olive Oil), and reserved 24 of them for the cupcakes, along with 3/4 cup of cookie dough for the frosting.  The cupcake batter made 29 regular size cupcakes, as well as 24 mini cupcakes.  The cookie dough made enough additional to roll about 4 dozen more small sized truffles.  Since I had only reserved 24 of the truffles, I did 2 dozen cupcakes with the cookie dough baked in them (L&O).  The remaining cupcakes were scooped with a melon baller after baking, and then a truffle was placed in the indentation (AE).  The cupcakes came out sunken in the centers where the cold cookie dough was.  These cupcakes also overflowed the baking cups quite a bit.  After sitting a while, the "ring" that was above the cupcake liner, well, it kinda fell down. 

No cupcakes were touched during this disaster.

I made the cookie dough frosting from L&O first, and it was just enough to cover about 15 cupcakes, as well as the 24 minis.  Then the brown sugar frosting from AE, which finished the rest of the cupcakes, with not much left over. 

The truffles were coated with melted milk-chocolate chips and placed on a rack to harden.  Note - don't do this.  When I pulled them off the rack, they cracked and left part of the chocolate behind, so they all looked like they had a bite taken out of them.  Use a silpat, wax or parchment paper instead.

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cupcakes were moist and tasty in spite of their tendency to fall apart.  They had the memory of chocolate chip cookies baked into them, most notably in the brown sugar and chocolate that were the main flavor ingredients.  I liked the taste of both the cookie dough and brown sugar frostings, however, I think there should be more cookie dough in the frosting than what the recipe calls for.  Either one would be appropriate with the cupcakes.  The truffles, well, they are the epitome of cookie-dough-ness.  A bit grainy, a bit raw, with chocolate chips inside.

Love the truffles and will definitely make them again.  The cupcakes, although they tasted fine, probably won't be making a repeat appearance.  I did like the scooped cupcake better than the baked cupcake.  The baked cupcake lost the "raw" flavor/texture, which only makes sense.  I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I didn't like.  Maybe the cupcake batter was too raw around the cookie dough center. 

Mark - Thought the cupcakes were "yummy" and he preferred the brown sugar frosting to the cookie dough frosting.  The truffles, were OMG! good and he refused to share them with his co-workers.

Up next, Cherry Almond Cupcakes...

Cupcake Test 12, "Lemon Strawberry Cupcakes"

Mini Cupcakes

Bonus Cupcake this week!!!!  Mark called me from work yesterday and one of their vendors had brought in a bunch of strawberries that were this > < close to being too far gone - and did I need any of them for cupcakes?  Bring it!  Between that and the lemon trees on my deck still drooping with fruit from last fall I was set for a Strawberry-Lemon cupcake.  Or Lemon-Strawberry.  Because they share billing pretty much equally.

I made the Strawberry Lemonade cupcake from Annie's Eats, scooped out a hollow with a melon baller which was then filled with either lemon curd or strawberry jam, and then topped with a fresh strawberry buttercream or lemon buttercream frosting, respectively.

Process Notes the curd:  Since I have all those lemons, just waiting for me to make something, I chose to make a lemon curd from scratch.  I took a look at the recipes from Nigella in How to Eat, and the recipe on Epicurious and decided that a combination of the two was probably the way to go.  I think you could use curd from a jar, but the homemade version does taste much fresher. So:

• 1/2 c fresh lemon juice
• 2 t lemon zest
• 1/2 c superfine sugar*
• 3 large eggs (whole)
• 1 large egg yolk
• 6 T butter, diced (added later)

Curd Filled Cupcake

Whisk together everything but the butter until the sugar dissolves in a heavy bottomed pot.  It should look like a clear pale yellow syrup.  Then, over a medium-low heat , whisk constantly until the curd thickens and turns a more solid lemon yellow.  It goes from not to done in the barest of a blink of an eye.  You'll be whisking and whisking and thinking this is never going to get there, turn your back for a mere second and then you are done.  Once the curd has thickened, take it off the heat and whisk in the butter for a silky texture.  Pour the curd through a strainer (to remove the zest and any eggy bits) and into a bowl to cool.  This needs to cool for several hours to thicken up so make sure you do it first.  (YUMMMMMMMM!)

Process Notes the Cupcake:  I followed the recipe for the cupcake pretty much straight as written.  I do wish I actually had put in more than the two cups of strawberry pieces and/or that I had cut them smaller.  The batter was thicker than the normal box mix, so I splashed in a bit more milk than the recipe called for to ease the folding of the strawberries.  I ended up with 24 regular sized cupcakes and 8 mini-me's.

Process Notes the Frostings:  I used the buttercream frosting recipe from Betty Crocker as a starting point.  I eliminated the milk and vanilla and went with straight up lemon juice in the lemon frosting.  For the strawberry frosting, again, no milk or vanilla, but with a cup of processed strawberries and a t of strawberry extract.   The strawberry frosting was a bit of a slump and required extra sugar (no surprise).  The lemon frosting was super stiff when I went to pipe, so I put it in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften it up. 

A bit slumpy, but YUMMM!

Tasting Notes:  Me - So so so so good.  The cupcake is full of lemon and strawberry flavor.  It's a bit more dense than the regular cupcake from a box.  I didn't try the one with the strawberry jam as I really love the lemon curd.  And the fresh strawberry buttercream.  Serious drool worthiness.  Dare I say it - better than Stein's.  No questions asked, this is going to be one of my favorites of all time.  There are cake balls, curd, and frosting leftover.  But not for long :-)  I probably wouldn't do the strawberry filling for the wedding, just the lemon curd.

Mark - Didn't want to try the curd.  I think it's the word - curd.  curd = crud in some minds.  But once he dipped a cake ball into the curd, he just didn't want to stop. Loved the strawberry frosting, not so much on the lemon. 

Others - do I really care what they think?   But I'll add commentary once it is gathered.

 *Superfine sugar dissolves faster and more thoroughly than granulated sugar. You could use the granulated sugar and either process it in a food processor for a few pulses, or stir longer until it dissolves. Superfine sugar is usually sold in what looks like a milk carton in the baking aisle.

Cupcake Test 11, "Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Swirl"

This week's test cupcake is the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Swirl.  Unlike most of the other recipes in the book, this one is a made from scratch cupcake and not just a modified cake from a box.  Not that there's anything wrong with cake from a box, as the reviews will tell you.  I actually looked online for errata and hints though, as the chocolate cake part has no eggs in it, and vinegar?  Seems the book was right though and this turned into one of the most appreciated cupcakes of the near dozen so far.

Process Notes:  I used Nestle baking coco for the chocolate, and my unfrosted cupcakes came out of the oven looking, well, a bit on the anemic side.  They were light brown and the sugar in the recipe gave the crust a nice crunch.  The vinegar acts with the baking soda to help the cupcakes rise and disappears in baking.  I used regular sized semi-sweet baking chips in the cheesecake portion of the "swirl".  I had more than enough of the cheesecake mixture to put in the cupcakes, but ran a bit light on the chocolate.  Also, I wish I had swirled the cupcakes with a knife pre-baking.  Since "without frosting, it's a muffin and not a cupcake" in the words of my hubster, I made a batch of the cream cheese frosting to swirl on top.  Even with the hugs & kisses, I wasn't able to frost 4 of the cupcakes.

Tasting Notes:  Me - I think the texture of these was more brownie than cake, more cake than brownie.  The flavor was actually quite chocolate, in spite of the anemic looking cupcakes and the cheese cake was a nice hit.  The cream cheese frosting enhanced the cheesecake swirl and made it really pop. 

Mark - loved these.  But I'm not getting real commentary from him besides "Yummy" these days.  His work place devoured them and a couple of them thought they were at least in the top two of those they remember.

Cupcake Test 10, Cinnamon Chocolate with Caramel Buttercream

Boy howdy, did I ever make a mess Monday afternoon.  This particular combination of flavors is not one that was requested by the Bride/Groom, however, I just couldn't get it out of my head.  I've long had a love of Mexican Hot Chocolate, with the brown sugar and cinnamon notes.  Add to that some caramel sauce, and I will be in a sugar coma for days.  As well, the BtB had difficulties working a caramel frosting earlier and I wanted to see if I could figure out what had gone wrong for her and make it work. 

Process Notes:  Specifically, I used the Betty Crocker Triple Fudge cake mix, and added two teaspoons of Ground Cinnamon to it. Mix and bake as usual.

Then, I made this caramel sauce from Ina Gartner.  Here's the trick, BtB, yes, it re-crystallized when I poured in the cream, however, I turned the heat back on and kept stirring and stirring.  Eventually, it smoothed back out into a rather thin sauce.  I put that in a bowl and into the fridge to cool and thicken.

Next, I went looking for a caramel buttercream and found one via Southern Living.  I reserved a cup of my caramel sauce for the frosting (just in case I needed to do more than one batch), and then I attempted to fill my cupcakes with the caramel sauce.

I think maybe I needed to wait until it had either thickened some more, or I should have used a smidge less cream to start with - hence the mess.  If I had a tray under the rack when I was "filling" them, I wouldn't have had caramel sauce all over the counter, the bread wrapper, the floor and anything else that might be standing still. Well, maybe not anyway.

Piped the caramel buttercream using one of my new big round piping tips and then drizzled more caramel on top of that.  Topped with a piped "flower" of Rich Chocolate Buttercream (half recipe only) from the Betty Crocker book, to which I added a teaspoon of cinnamon for that Mexican chocolate hint.  Wish I had some gold dust to put on the chocolate flower for a bit of bling.

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cinnamon smelled great when the cupcakes were baking, but I don't think it shines through after the cupcakes have cooled and are frosted and drowning in caramel.  Not that I would change the caramel though, because that is just sin in a spoon.  The caramel flavored buttercream is delish (lightly caramel) and I couldn't stop licking my fingers as I piped the chocolate flowers on top.  Together, it's yummy, but the cinnamon notes are subtle at best.  Either skip the cinnamon, or add another teaspoon to the batter I think.  I've seen where folks have added a pinch of cayenne to their Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes, if you are feeling frisky.

Mark - Low blood sugar upon arriving home, and he devoured one and half cupcakes.  Later in the week, the leftover chocolate buttercream was requested along with the caramel sauce.  Poured on some store bought cookies, and even those tasted better.  Loved it.  Though he could taste the cinnamon, it wasn't the first thing he noticed.

Other Folks - The deck dudes thought they were the best of all - rich and sticky and in need of a good glass of milk.  Mark's work place went back for seconds before they even finished the firsts.  Only one person surveyed even tasted the cinnamon. 

Cupcake Test 9, Strawberry & Cream

The Strawberry & Cream cupcake had been previewed by StO and her crew found it tasty and delish and maybe even their favorite.  It's a bit different in that you use Strawberry Soda to flavor a white cake mix.  I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't just use a strawberry cake mix, but hey, we're testing wedding cupcakes here!

I can't believe that I ordered some piping tips off of the Wilton's site.  I've been checking my local sources and let me just say, they are lacking.  I ordered some of the extra large tips so that I can get quick and full coverage - some rounds, some stars...  I don't remember what all now.

And yesterday, I picked up another cupcake book called Cupcake Heaven, by Susannah Blake.  Apple & Cinnamon, Carrot & Cardamom, Lavender, Rosewater - and those are the "Simple" cupcakes.   My taste buds are tingling just thinking about it.

So back to the regularly scheduled programming:

Process Notes:  Not much to note here.  The cupcakes were well behaved.  I used one batch of the cream cheese frosting recipe in the back of the book to frost the cupcakes.  Instead of topping them with sliced strawberries (since I didn't have any!) I sprinkled some pretty pink sugar on instead.

Tasting Notes:  Me - the cream cheese frosting is near perfect, especially when paired with the strawberry cupcake.  I wish I had thought to stir in some frozen strawberry puree into the cake mix, like my favorite bakery in Dallas - Stein's - but I was too late.  The cupcakes were lightly flavored with strawberry and were a delight to eat.

Mark - had a taste when he got home, and his comment was "I wish I hadn't done that - now I want some more!"  He delivered nearly the full batch to work and when he wandered through the kitchen at lunch time, there were two left.  At least three folks went back for seconds.  I think you can count these as a hit!

Cupcake Test 8, Pina Colada

aka, "if you half have a brain...."  That song has been on an endless loop since I first made these cupcakes.  I need to move on so it will get out of my head!

Without further ado...
Process Notes:  These were simple to make with the addition of crushed pineapple and rum extract to the cake mix.  The frosting was canned, with additional rum & coconut extracts for that island flavor.  I evidently got happy with my scooper again, since I only got 22 cupcakes.  And each can of frosting only covered a dozen.  The crushed pineapple was a bit difficult to clean off of the beaters in my dishwasher.

Tasting Notes:  Me - If I didn't know that the pineapple was in the cake, I wouldn't have noticed it at all.  I thought that the rum extract in the frosting was a bit heavy handed, overpowering the coconut. 

Mark didn't get a taste of these at all.  However, he delivered them to work and they were gone in a flash.  I asked him for specific feedback re: the pineapple and again, not noticed at all.  One gentleman said he got some fruit, but he didn't realize what it was. 

This was probably the last delivery to my deck dudes, and they said they were tasty, but not as good as some of the others they have had.

So there you go.  Next up, Strawberry & Cream.

Cupcake Test 7, White Chocolate with White Chocolate Buttercream

I couldn't handle the seeming failure of last weeks cupcake test, even though they were gone in no time flat.  So this week, I redid my White Chocolate cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Icing.  There's no link, as this was off the top of my head.  The cupcakes were simple - a French Vanilla box mix, with some of the white "chocolate" ground in my food processor mixed in -about 6 ounces.  (This is the block of stuff that I request from Mom each Christmas!)  Then, because I couldn't leave well enough alone, I dolloped a bit of jam in pre-baking.  I wanted to do lemon, but got talked out of that, and I still think it could really work.  Instead I did a half dozen each of cherry, blueberry, and peach and left a half dozen "plain".

Notes the first:  The cupcakes were sticky in the trays and didn't want to let loose when it was time to remove them. They also didn't rise very much.  The jam and any larger chunks of chocolate simply sank to the bottom of the cupcake.  The white chocolate chunklettes actually got a little brown in the bottom of the cups.  If I were to do these, yet again, I would skip adding the chocolate and jam to the cake batter, and instead do a soft white chocolate ganache to pipe in as a filling.  Maybe something like this?

Then came the frosting.  I looked online and there a bazillion ways to make a buttercream frosting.  Some use eggs, some don't.  The ratio of chocolate to butter to sugar varies from recipe to recipe.  After looking and figuring, and knowing what I personally like, this is what I came up with:

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

8 oz of white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli), melted in top of a double boiler

1 cup of salted butter, softened

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar, more or less

Heavy whipping cream, as needed.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler.  Once the chips are smooth and creamy, take them off the heat and let them cool for a bit.  You don't want it to harden, but if it is too hot it will melt your butter.  While you are cooling the chocolate, go ahead and cream the butter in/with your mixer.  You want it to be light and fluffy.  Then, pour the still warm chocolate into the butter and immediately start the mixer on high.  My butter melted just a bit, but once it was whipped up, everything solidified.  Add in the vanilla, and then start adding the confectioners sugar, one cup at a time.  You may use more or less of the confectioners sugar, depending on how stiff you want the frosting to be.  If it gets too stiff, you could whip in some heavy cream, one teaspoon at a time, to loosen it back up again.

Notes the second:  I prefer the double boiler to the microwave as you can see what's happening the whole time and there is less chance of burning the chocolate.  Also, it's easy to "make" a double boiler if you have a metal bowl larger than one of your pots - just don't let the bottoms touch, or let the bottom of the bowl touch the boiling water.  Most recipes use unsalted butter, but I prefer the bit of salt found in salted butter.  It's kind of like adding salt to caramel.  This frosting piped out of the bag just like a dream. Although I tried to make chocolate curls, all I got was shards.  That would need more practice.

Tasting Notes:  Me - I was able to try the cherry and blueberry, and as I said above, I'd skip the jam and chocolate and just do a ganache filling instead.  The chocolate was not noticeable in the cupcake. The frosting was fabulous. Although still recognizable as a buttercream, it had enough chocolate in it to taste like you would expect a white chocolate buttercream to taste.

Mark - This was wrapper licking good.  The white chocolate buttercream made him moan and he has declared it by far his favorite.  But he is a huge fan of white chocolate.

Work - These disappeared even faster than the last batch.  Even though the delivery dates were Monday and Friday. 

An Update:  StO and I looked for the ingredients in the Chai Cupcakes linked to earlier and we could not find any Instant Chai.  BtB, can you send me the recipe you had when I visited?  I still think they sound really tasty.

Cupcake Test 6, Toasted Almond with Caramel Frosting

Toasted Almond Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting were the tested cupcake for the week.  When I read that, I expected a cupcake that reminds me of an Almond Shortbread Cookie - buttery, full of almond and butter flavor and a little sandy in texture.  And Caramel Frosting - sweet, sticky, a bit salty, tasting of browned sugar and butter.  Like the Fleur de Sel Caramels I've been making the past couple of Christmas seasons. 

I'm afraid these cupcakes are not what I expected.  But, let me not get ahead of myself.

Process Notes:  Toasting the slivered almonds is key to the flavor profile of the cupcake and it takes just a blink to go from mildly toasted to burnt.  I had my almonds in the oven for just 5 minutes, not the 6-10 recommended.  I immediately removed the almonds from the hot sheet and allowed them to cool for 15 minutes where they continued to darken before grinding them coarsely in my mini-chopper.  I then began the cake mix, allowing the nuts to cool just a bit longer before folding them into the batter. 

I added a bit more powdered sugar to the brown sugar/butter frosting mixture, hoping for a lighter color and texture.  I even pulled out my second hand mixer to try and whip it into shape.  The frosting crystallized quite quickly, making it very difficult to work with, despite repeated infusions of milk.  I was only able to frost 21 cupcakes with the amount per the recipe. 

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cupcake itself is quite delicate, perfumed with the hint of almonds.  Since you start with a white cake mix, there is not much in the way of a butter flavor.  I believe that if I had ground the almonds finely, I wouldn't have even noticed that they were in there.  The frosting is where this whole thing goes squirrelly.  If I were in charge of naming it, I would have called it a "Brown Sugar Brûlée".  It's gritty and totally overwhelms the fragrant almond cupcake both in taste and aroma.  If I were to redo the cupcakes, I'd try this Salted Caramel recipe, if I had to go with Caramel frosting.  I'd also increase the almond amounts (both ground nut and extract) and start with a yellow butter cake mix.  I might change the frosting to a whipped chocolate ganache (without the cinnamon) as found here.  Although the Toasted Almond with Caramel sounds like a great combination, I'm afraid this recipe is just a jumping off point to something else you'd rather have.

ETA:  When I give up my preconceived ideas, these aren't bad cupcakes.  The almond flavor comes through as the cupcake cools and the frosting is quite tasty.  I still think that the frosting sets up far too fast, however, how can you go wrong with brown sugar and butter?

Mark - Came home last night and dinner wasn't quite ready, but the cupcakes were.  He split one with me and declared it quite yummy.  He liked the lightness of the cupcake and the sweet frosting.  So much so, that he decided he needed another one.  That's a resounding success.

I haven't delivered these out for other folks to taste yet, but I'll update my post as soon as I hear something.
ETA:  The deck dudes both thought the cupcakes were "awesome".  Mark's co-workers were mixed in their opinions - some thought the frosting was too sweet, others liked the gritty texture - made them think of old fashioned ice cream.  "Not my favorite" was a common comment.

Cupcake Test 5, "Strawberry-Cream Cheese Cupcakes"

The Bride to Be sent off a quick email last week, and let me know her next three choices.  Since I found fresh strawberries at the market, I went with the "Strawberry-Cream Cheese Cupcakes".    Now, from the get-go, these aren't Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes, these are quite clearly Cream Cheese Cupcakes, even though I think Cheesecake sounds like a mighty fine idea, and if there's another recipe, I'd highly recommend trying it.  (If I pulled the wrong recipe, Miss BtB, please let me know and I will be happy do another batch.  The only other Strawberry Cupcakes I see are the Strawberry & Cream, made with Strawberry Soda.)  These are instead, a lump of cream cheese in the middle of a sour cream cupcake, with some jam on top.  Doesn't sound very appetizing when I put it like that, however, they smell really delish ~ they are cooling as I start to write this.  They will get topped with a swirl of cream cheese frosting and a garnish of fresh fruit, which should make them oh so tasty.

Process Notes:  Since they are topped with some jam, I decided to go with some of my homemade preserves from last summer - I made half the cupcakes with strawberry and half with blueberry.  I have some cherry that I think would be tasty as well.  I didn't realize that they made cream cheese in 3 oz pkgs (why?), so I diced up my 8 oz package into 24 bits for the cupcakes.  And, instead of the chintzy 1/4t of jam, I went with a full teaspoon per cupcake.  Which, hey!, I got 24 cupcakes AGAIN with the use of the magical ice cream scoop!  Although I bought some canned cream cheese frosting, I wanted to make some homemade cream cheese frosting, so I used the recipe in the back of the book. Oh, the canned only frosted 11 cupcakes, but I was generous with it.  The recipe made more than enough for the other dozen cupcakes.  I topped the "stay-home" cupcakes with some fresh fruit, but I don't think that will travel well. Or look good for an extended period of time.  I think a sprinkle of colored sugar would be sparkly.

Ugly Duckling

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cupcake is very moist, tender and quite flavorful with just a bit of crumb.  I prefer the homemade cream cheese frosting to the canned kind, but the canned is not bad.    I think that mixing some sweetened condensed milk with the cream cheese, prior to baking, would make these more of a cheesecake cupcake and actually, taste better.  My lumps, based on the 8 oz block vs. the 3 oz block, were kinda big and well, lumpy.  I liked the flavor, but it was more of a distraction than an enhancement.

Mark - No cupcake this time, just frosting.  You can still taste the confectioners sugar in the homemade frosting, so the canned frosting was a bit smoother.  However, not much real difference between the two.

Ugly duckling

Outsiders - Ralph & Sean (my deck dudes!) ~ Sean says they taste great.  Ralph said his kids loved them, but his wife was wondering about the cream cheese.  Ralph personally, thought they just fell apart in his hands - too tender. All preferred the blueberry to the strawberry.

Cupcake Test 4, "Key West"

StO (sadly blogless) picked the Key West cupcakes to try this weekend.  I believe we are all especially fond of Key Lime pie.  The combination of sweet and tart, smooth filling and sandy graham cracker crust, is just heaven on your tongue.   But I must say personally, an overly sweet key lime pie is not very good.

One of my favorite trips was a 4 day excursion to the Florida Keys in which I tried the Key Lime Pie at every restaurant we ate at.  The best was, coincidentally, at Lorelei's, on Key Largo.  I don't know if they are still in existence, but the large plywood mermaid is still a landmark in my mind.

Process Notes:  Wahoo!  I got 24 cupcakes this time.  I was overfilling the cups just a smidge, but now, I've got it down pat.  I added additional lime juice to the "filling" - when I tasted it, it was just too sweet, with not much lime flavor to it.  And OMG, was that not the nastiest looking stuff when you put the lime juice and food coloring in the pudding?  I wanted to do half the cupcakes with the filling on top, as per the directions, and the other half as we did the Just Because.  However, the filling was so runny, I wasn't able to just top the cupcakes.  I also added about a T of lime zest to the cake batter pre-baking and on top of the frosting topper.  Like I said, if it's supposed to be lime, I want it to be LIME!  The pics on line show a small slice of lime, but I think the zest will be just fine.

Tasting Notes:

Me:  Sweet, tart, what's not to like?  Even though I tried to push the filling into the cupcake, I think the filling was too runny, and I probably needed a cupcake corer to make it work.  Instead, it just kind of ran over the top, which was fine.  These definitely needed to be refrigerated - a consideration to keep in mind.

Mark:  He only tried the filling, which he really liked.

The Office:  Specific comments - one guy thought they were the best so far.  His second favorite were the chocolate-peanut butter JB's.  Since these were in the fridge, they took a couple of days to disappear.  Out of sight, out of mind, doncha know?

Cupcake Test 3 "Double Coconut"

My pick this week - Double-Coconut Cupcakes. Can I just say, mmmmmm?   These are actually triple coconut, but if you used the pre-mixed frosting, then they would be just double.  There is a dollop of coconut and sweetened condensed milk as a surprise filling in the cupcake.  There is coconut flavor in the homemade frosting, and then you top it all off with some toasted coconut.

Process Notes:  Again, even with the ice cream scoop, I only got 21 cupcakes.  This is obviously user error.  I'll try to do better next time.  I used a small cookie scoop (like an ice cream scoop but just a smidge larger than a melon baller) to put the filling in the cupcake batter - and I had more than enough of the coconut goo to do 24 and more cupcakes.  Tool wise though, I'll bet this was the way to go.  I got a new pan as well - this one has the little wave things on the bottom of the cups so I think it's an air bake pan.  I also used my heavy duty pan.  Regardless, none of the cupcakes burned.  I was nervous that they hadn't baked enough, even though my toothpick test came clean, because as I was pulling them from the pan, they seemed soft on the bottom.  After letting them rest however, they firmed up.  The frosting was quick and easy to make.  I added an extra 1/2 t (making it 1 & 1/2 t) of coconut extract to enhance the flavor.  Watch the toasting process carefully.  It takes just moments to go from yum to burned.  Speaking of the coconut, the bag says that there is 5 1/2 c in it.  I'm assuming that's fluffed, because I didn't have that much extra. 

Tasting Notes:

Me:  Yum and Yum and Yum.  I like the surprise filling that's not really a filling, because once the sweetened condensed milk is cooked, it's absorbed into the batter of the cupcake making it really moist and delicious.  The frosting is addictive.  And the toasted coconut on top gives it a bit of color and crunch.

Mark:  Delicious.  Loved the frosting so much, he upped his shot so that he could eat more of it.  He usually doesn't do that. 

Work:  All but one was gone by the time Mark headed home.  I'm sure that's a function of the now regular appearance of cupcakes at his office.  And, coconut is one of those flavors that folks either really like, or really don't like.  The last one was gone before he got to the office this morning.  All comments were positive.  (He's not really good about direct quotes!)

Cupcake Test 2 "S'more"

This week, we've had a request from the groom to make the S'Mores Cupcakes.  

Process Notes:  Even though I went from a 1/3c scoop to a 1/4c scoop for my cupcakes, I only managed to get 21 cupcakes.  I'm still looking for an ice cream scoop with a sweep to see if that will help.  Also, the book called for baking them at 375, while the box called for 350.  I baked at 375, but just for 18 minutes.  And, due to the higher temperature, the ones in the cheaper (lighter) muffin tin, were extra brown.  I'd recommend doing them at the lower temperature.  The frosting is oh-so-sticky, but what do you expect with marshmallow fluff?  Also, I was only able to frost 18 cupcakes with the one batch of frosting.  That's a half-dozen short which will add up in quantity, quickly.  I used my mini-chopper on the candy bar shrapnel, but if I were making these in bulk, I would definitely use the food processor.

Tasting Notes:  Me - I'm not a big fan of the S'mores.  I like them in theory, but in practice, not so much.  I liked the chocolate mixed into the batter - that was tasty.  I didn't really get any graham taste from the crumbs that were added.  Instead, I felt like they made the cupcake a little rubbery.  The frosting didn't have much of a marshmallow taste to it - maybe if it got toasted with a flame thrower?  The teddy graham couples were cute for decoration.  I think StY probably had a good idea to dip the cupcakes in the graham crumbs as decor & for more flavor.

Mark -  Likes these very much and would put them on the list to make.  His suggestion for improvement is to put a puddle of chocolate syrup in the top of the cupcake before frosting them to add a bit more chocolate flavor.  He thought that the teddy couples were appropriate for a wedding - & fun too. 

Mark's Office - I'll add these notes some time this weekend.  Mark did say he had received positive feedback.

Cupcake Test 1a & 1b "Just Because"

My youngest sister is getting married this year!  She's asked my other sister to work her magic in producing some sort of (cup)cake for the reception.  Sister the older has sent both of us the book Better Crocker Just Cupcakes so that we can all test recipes and take notes. 

Our first test is of the "Just Because" cupcakes.  In the book, they look like a version of ho-ho's or ding dongs, rich chocolate cupcake with a cream filling.  I used a chocolate cake mix for the cupcake and then made two filling/frosting options.  The first is the "Creamy White Frosting" - I tinted mine pink because I don't have any clear vanilla (yet!) in my pantry.  The second is the "Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting".

Process Notes:  I only got 21 cupcakes (vs. the 24 advertised) - I need to get a scoop that will let me put the same amount of batter in each liner.  I baked them at 350 (preheated and everything!) on the convection bake setting in the gas oven.  Chocolate cake doesn't look good in fancy liners.  You might as well use the foil ones or plain-jane and a wrapper.  It took 3/4 of a recipe of the Creamy White Frosting to do 10 cupcakes.  1/2 a recipe of the Creamy PB Frosting was more than enough to do 11 cupcakes.  I think I put a smidge too much milk in the PB frosting - I've got a cupcake in the fridge to see if it sets up better. 

The Ugly Ducklings

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cupcakes were moist, but not exceptionally so.  I liked the PB better with the cupcake than alone.  The Creamy White was also quite tasty.  I can see this with a chocolate ganache or some jelly inside.  It does not however, taste like a ding dong or ho-ho - that would need a bit more cream I do believe.

Hubster -  The Creamy White is his favorite.  It tastes like the frosting they used to make at the Harvey's in Valdosta.

His Office - we'll see if we can get an update tomorrow.   eta:  The un-official verdict is this:  The pink frosting looks more appetizing than the peanut butter - all 8 cupcakes devoured vs. a couple of the peanut butter remaining at the end of the day.  The peanut butter frosting looks a little like poo if you don't put sprinkles on it.

You can see StY notes here.