Christmas Baking has BEGUN

First Time Fondant...

We have a rule in my house - No Christmas decorations until AFTER Mom's birthday (December 12) There's no rule about no Christmas baking! Why would anyone put a ban on baked goods..? So, I'm starting early. :D
These cakes are gumdrop cupcakes. Apparently gumdrop cake is a big deal at Christmas time but I'd never heard of it. I got some fruitlets candies and they actually had a recipe for gumdrop COOKIES right on the back...Weird? Maybe. So, these are pretty much just vanilla cakes with cut up gumdrops in it. Pretty great, right?

I'd never used fondant before, though I've admired it for awhile. I really felt like you can do anything with it! Now that I've used it, I know it's true. I LOVE it so much. It's sooo fun!

I stuck to bows this time but maybe next time I'll branch out a little more. I wanted to make a couple Christmas gifts though. :D So, this is my first time using fondant and it was a great experience!

Happy Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Season Toooo


These are pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World:

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate hips

1. preheat the oven to 350F. line muffin pan with cupcake liners
2. in a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk and vanilla. sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. stir together and fold in chocolate chips.
3. fill liners two-thirds full. bake for 22 to 24 minutes. transfer to wire rack and cool before decorating.

I topped them with a buttercream cinnamon vanilla frosting. I can't remember the measurements I used but it was icing sugar, buttery spread, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. I decorated over top of this frosting with chocolate chips and coconut buttercream flowers(number 19 tip)... :)

Corn Season

Corn is soooo Awesome!

I love corn a lot, so these cupcakes are really funny to me. I've been waiting awhile to make these and it makes me really happy that today I got a chance to!! They were a lot of fun to make, too. These are lemon cupcakes (From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) with coconut frosting. The beans/corn kernels are flavoured coconut, pineapple, lemon and pina colada! The pepper on top is just black sprinkles! These were really easy to make, and they make me so happy. :) My life rocks.

Froufrou Cakes

Chocolatey Mess

Since I haven't posted in TWO MONTHS I figured I better update with something pretty killer. So, I've come up with these chocolate strawberry cupcakes.

Instead of using vanilla soy milk I used chocolate, and instead of using vanilla extract I used chocolate as well. The cupcakes came out as a light chocolate flavour...very delicious.

On top is a chocolate mousse and on top of that...a strawberry dipped half in chocolate and rolled in crushed almonds. Then chocolate ganache gets drizzled over the top.

Pretty elaborate cakes...

O CANADA

Happy Canada Daaaay !!

Mmmmmhm. These are maple cupcakes, with maple frosting and a maple candy on top. I LOVE MAPLE. I don't really even like maple syrup, actually but I looove everything flavoured maple... candy, candy, cupcakes, cookies, candy, and so on...So, I was happy to make maple flavoured cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. My room mate suggested lemon frosting. I think it would be good to put lemon on maple, so maybe they'll come in the future. I also made cookies !!! On a holiday, one blog cannot be updated without the other. Happy Canada Day everyoneee !

A Day for Chocolate

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse

Today is my brother's half birthday. His birthday is on Christmas, and because he doesn't get a "real" birthday party, we celebrate the half. He requested something with chocolate mousse, so I made a chocolate cake...but only half. Also, half a batch of cupcakes.

It's an easy chocolate cake, cut in half and piled, with a layer of chocolate ganache in between the layers. I put a layer of the ganache, let it cool, and put another layer. The cupcakes are also just chocolate, with a layer of ganache and chocolate mousse on top. The mousse didn't turn out as thick as usual, so it didn't get to be piled as high, which is sort of disappointing, but it's alright.

Definitely ended up with chocolatey chocolatey cake. Chocolate ganache, mousse, sprinkles, and chunks of dark chocolate.

A Muffin is not a Cupcake!

Coffee Chip Muffins

Eeeh, I know these are muffins and not cupcakes, but I thought they deserve a place in the blog. Sometimes people call cupcakes muffins and muffins cupcakes but there is a difference between the two. Besides ingredient differences, cupcakes have papers and frosting, and muffins don't. I'm not sure how many times I've had to smile and say, "Cupcake." following, "Oh yeah, I checked out your muffin blog..." But, it's not the end of the world.

Aside from that, it took me a long time to try and think up something to make. Lots of different cupcake ideas came into my head, but I ended up just following a recipe. These are the first recipe I've done from a cookbook I picked up called Vegan Brunch. This was a book I've been waiting for...my favourite meal of the day and by my favourite cookbook author! Needless to say, these turned out great. Also, I got to use my cupcake scoop for the first time. So, I ended up with preeeetty even cupcakes! So...coffee, chocolate, yummy...you know.

Blueberry Crumbly

Blueberry Crumb Cake




Funny story about this cake...

As I was mixing the ingredients together and doing usual cake making things...I was thinking, "This will bake for 55 minutes. Usually when things bake for a long time I forget about them and they get taken out a little late...La la la." then I thought, "Wow, this is a lot of blueberries...I hope it turns out. I really don't want to ruin so many blueberries..." So, I finished putting the cake together and I put it in in the oven, scheduling the time it should come out. I did some other things for awhile and, big surprise, I forgot about my cake. An hour and a half later I strolled casually into the kitchen and looked at the hot oven. Suddenly I remembered my cake...my blueberry crumbly cake. :( I was upset that I forgot about it but it ended up being fine, though maybe a little dry compared to how it could have been. Everyone so far has liked it, so I guess it's fine. I'll definitely make it again, though maybe the right way. Here's the recipe so try it out.

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup Crisco, or other shortening/margarine/butter
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugars, flour and baking powder, and cinnamon. Cut in the shortening 1 tsp at a time with a pastry cutter or fork. Press half the dough into the pan.
   
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugars and cornstarch. Mix in the blueberries and pour the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
   
4. Bake for 55 minutes (or whatever... ;) ). Cool completely before cutting into pieces.

Birthday Leftovers

Happy Birthday !!




These are birthday cupcakes for my roommate. Simple, obvious birthday cakes... ;) Lemon cake with coconut frosting, and happy round sprinkles on top. The liners are also birthday themed with yellow and red balloons and ribbons on them.

Cookies!

Thank you for welcoming into your life...


cookie explosion!!

Breakfast Cupcakes

French Toast Cakes



These ones are FRENCH TOAST cupcakes. Cinnamon cupcakes with maple frosting. Decorated with a piece of cinnamon bark on each, and chocolate sprinkles.

Love Sheep & Bunnies

Happy Easter!!


My second favourite holiday, because of all the cute bunnies, and sheep! The cupcakes weren't too fancy as I was in charge of making Easter dinner too! (my first time... ;D) Not as much time to spend on cakes...

So they were pretty basic cupcakes; carrot with either coconut or cinnamon frosting. As well, some added spring sprinkles on top - shaped as eggs, butterflies, spring animals, or just plain coloured jimmies!

The Cupcakes Dreams are Made Of...

Cookies and Cream

These cupcakes have an oreo cookie baked into the
bottom underneath a layer of vanilla cake with crushed
up oreos inside. Cookie crumb frosting generously heaped
on top with half an oreo on top. Cupcakes your dreams are made of.

A Pot of Gold at the End of Each Rainbow

Happy St Patrick's Day!!



Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Nothing too fancy, because they have fancy rainbows on top...Rainbow foods are fun to make. Have a happy, lucky daaay ! ☺

Convincing Spring to ... Spring.

In an attempt to welcome spring after a sike out of nice weather followed by a snowstorm...I made light and fluffy lemon cupcakes with creamy lemon lime frosting. Cute, I think...

Valentine's... ♥

Happy Valentine's Day !

Valentine's Day !!!! My favourite holiday to make cakes for... :D

This was my favourite cupcake I made, so he got his own special picture.

...And the class photo. These are strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting. Some also have chocolate topping on them, and a chocolate foil heart.

This is the CAKE I made for a certain someone. Someone who doesn't like sprinkles...So I had to be creative. ;) He also doesn't like a lot of frosting, but you've gotta draw the line somewhere. It's a matcha green tea, vanilla swirl cake with light strawberry and vanilla buttercream.

Have a happy lovey dovey daaay !

Pre Cakes are the Best Cakes !

Pre Valentine's Day !

This is my Pre Valentine's Day cake. It was actually made a couple of weeks ago but I thought I'd wait until real Pre Valentine's began. It was a vanilla cake with a hard chocolate topping and coconut frosting and filling. Of course, with pretty heart designs.