Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Easy and good for birthday cupcake decorating!  By MARTHA STEWART.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

I had the highest hopes that these would turn out perfect and adorable like they are on the blog where I found the RECIPE for Candy Corn Cupcakes.  Just so you know, these don't taste like candy corn (which is downright disgusting if you ask me), they just look like them.  They are so adorable if done right.  I made the batter and the colors looked so cute and I even thought I did a good job of evenly distributing the batter so there was half yellow/half orange.  All is well until the bottoms of your cupcakes BURN.  I was so angry.  After all of that work most of the batches' bottoms burned, requiring me to cut off the burned part and have most of the batch just cupcake tops that were orange.  I put them on the bottom shelf of the oven to bake and there's where my problem was.  I guess you live and learn in the kitchen.  Not every batch can turn out perfect.

I also made the frosting  recipe to go with these.  It's not my favorite because I'm partial to a thick cream cheese frosting and this is more that light, whipped store-cupcake frosting/filling.  It's tasty though, for sure.  I used almond instead of vanilla because that's what I used in the batter and I wanted to remain consistent.

These are really cute (if you do it right) and are great for around Halloween.

Before - when things were still hopeful

After.  Not so hopeful anymore.

This one sort of turned out right.  Too bad the picture is so blurry.

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Okay... this may be my favorite pumpkin baked good recipe EVER.  My sister-in-law sent me this recipe and I wish I could kiss her from a 1,000 miles away for it!  Delicious, amazing, wonderful!


Pumpkin Cake


4 eggs
1 2/3 c. sugar
1 c. oil
16 oz. pumpkin
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. nutmeg


Mix eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin together until well blended. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a sheet pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Do not frost until cool.

Frosting

6 oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3-4 c. powdered sugar

Let the cream cheese and butter soften to room temp. Then mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until smooth and you have reached desired consistency.


I am keeping it in the fridge and it tastes really great cold.  I definitely recommend keeping it cool before you eat it.  


I will be making this every fall forever.

Pineapple Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!

I have a ton of zucchini in my garden and so when a friend sent me this recipe I knew I had to try it.  And WHOA - I am glad I did.  I love these!  My husband is dying he loves them so much.  They are sort of healthy, too, except I used full fat cream cheese instead of 1/3 fat.  Totally worth it.  These are a great way to bid farewell to summer and say hello to fall - a wonderful mix of the two seasons.  

If you like zucchini - definitely, definitely these are a must.

Thank you Skinny Taste!

Seriously... yum.

Banana Cake With Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

Yesterday we went to a movie night with friends and I was in charge of dessert.  I made a Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream.  I found this recipe via a photo on Pinterest (which I'm obsessed with) and thought it looked a little challenging because of the layering and the frosting is slightly different from anything I've made before.

Here is the CAKE recipe and the FROSTING recipe from www.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com.

The cake tasted a lot like banana bread, but was more moist (ew, I hate that word).  The frosting tastes really good but is a somewhat odd texture and I never could get the graininess to completely go away.  Making layered cakes is so rewarding because they end up looking so large, like masterpieces (although mine are pretty messy masterpieces).

I would make this recipe again if someone really loved banana and wanted it in a cake instead of bread - the frosting really does add something to it.  But I don't think I would go through the trouble of making it again otherwise.  If you love banana though - give it a try at least once.  It got good reviews from the tasters.

I would definitely make the frosting again for other recipes.  Despite a strange-ish texture it is really, really tasty.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting

I am obsessed with the website Cupcake Project.  Last night I made mini white cupcakes with strawberry whipped cream frosting for a friend's birthday (& so I could eat a dozen or so) from this site.  This frosting is incredibly easy and cheap to make (especially if you have strawberries on hand that are about to go south).  Most importantly, it's delicious!  You could use this for a fruit dip, with graham crackers or plain + straight out of the Kitchenaid.

Find the recipe HERE.

See my picture dilemma?  I need to learn to make what I bake look good in photos.  For now I  will use the Retro Camera app on my phone, but I will eventually progress and my pictures will look as good as The Pioneer Woman's.  Okay... maybe not quite that good.

Speaking of The Pioneer Woman, I make a lot of the recipes on her website.  She's my favorite.

Should you make this frosting?  Yes, indeed.