Cupcake Times Two

Today is Clarissa's birthday! She is my student worker and such an asset to me. She is thorough, a quick learner and dependable. So for her special day I made cupcakes topped with mini cupcakes. These are so fun!

I saw this idea last year and it just seemed like so much work. Baking mini cupcakes actually takes more work than making the larger ones, if that makes any sense at all. Then a few weeks ago I saw a post on Annie's blog With Sprinkles on Top. Instead of baking mini cupcakes, she had a trick up her sleeve: miniature Reese's cups! How genius is that?! Take the foil off, pipe icing on top and embellish with sprinkles. Looks just like the real thing!

I am a sucker for miniatures. I once saw a tiny bottle of Heinz ketchup and went into cuteness overload.

Forgive me for the low quality pictures. My camera was out of commission last night and I had to use my phone. Also, I searched quite a while for the right staging materials for my pictures, but eventually had to settle with my simple counter top because Mini Mac was going sprinkle crazy. I told her she couldn't have anymore but a minute later she was making excuses to "clean" my floor. She found a loophole in the "no more sprinkles" rule and began wiping my floor with a paper towel saying, "Mommy, I clean you floor!" leading me to believe she was simply being super helpful to me. In reality she was infiltrating fallen sprinkles each time I turned me head. She really had me thinking she was just having a super fun time wiping down my floor. I should have known better. That child has become too smart for her own good. But she told me I was a good "cooker" so I tend to fold like origami a lot these days.

Happy Birthday, Clarissa!!

Wedding Shower Cupcakes

I LOVE these cupcakes. I was so pleased with the finished product! These were made for a wedding shower, hence the chocolate monogram. I got the idea for the monogram from Leslie, The Hungry Housewife. (I guess you have figured out by now that she is pretty much my food blogging idol.) She made these cupcakes for my other blogging idol, Kristan. Lots of food bloggers threw her a virtual baby shower for her little Lucy set to arrive any day now. I love the idea of a virtual baby shower!

If you haven't already been to either of these ladies' sites, you must check them out. These girls are incredibly creative, not to mention mega hilarious. Leslie is here and Kristan here. I assure you, they will make your day!

Sweet Buttermilk Glaze

Please forgive the out of focus picture. I was tired. I was not into it. My mind was elsewhere. Like getting this cake in my mouth as fast as possible.

My mom has made an Amish Carrot Cake for years that, instead of being topped with icing, is topped with what is called a Buttermilk Glaze. It is to die for. It's comes out almost like a caramel sauce. This cake has been requested by many a child for their birthday. Now, the above cake is not the Amish Carrot Cake. (I WILL share that with you guys sometime.) It is a mixture of a carrot cake mix and a spice cake mix. 

Here's the deal.

I was making some carrot cupcakes for a friend's birthday. While I LOVE the above Decadent Carrot Cake mix from Duncan Hines, it's just a bit too dense for cupcakes so I mixed in some of the spice cake batter. 

After the cupcakes were done I had some of the combined batters left and since I LOATHE wasting food I poured the mixture into a 9 x 13 dish to make a cake.  I didn't want to make icing for it, but remembered that glorious buttermilk glaze and knew it would be perfect for this cake.

And it's so easy. Just boil together some sugar, butter, buttermilk, corn syrup and baking soda until it becomes amber in color. Stir in some vanilla.

Transfer to a pourable container.

Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer or straw.

While the cake is still warm, pour the glaze slowly over the top. The slower you pour the better. That gives the glaze time to get down in all the little nooks and crannies.

Lastly, cut a slice and prepare to be wowed.

Sweet Buttermilk Glaze

1 cups sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 TB light corn syrup

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

-In a medium saucepan, bring all the ingredients (except the vanilla) to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly, Continue to boil until it reaches an amber color. 

-Turn off heat and stir in vanilla. 

-Pour over warm cake.

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Happy Halloween!!!

Caramel Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

Do you say "Kar-mul" or "Care-a-mel?" I say the latter. And I say it often. I just love caramel anything. It's my favorite flavor, if you will. So when Leslie, The Hungry Housewife, made some super-simple and oh-so-tasty caramel stuffed brownies, I had to get on that bandwagon.

These are incredibly easy to make. Just prepare a box mix (I used a family size Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge mix), pour half of it into the pan then arrange a layer of some sort of chocolate covered caramels. I used these:

Feel free to use any kind you want. These come wrapped individually. They make me feel a bit spoiled.

I prepared a  the brownie mix, poured half of the batter into a 9 x 9 pan and strategically placed the unwrapped candy.

I topped it with the remaining batter. Next, because I had some on hand, because they are fantastic with chocolate and most of all because I CAN, I topped the batter with some Reese's Peanut Butter Chips. I baked them according to package directions until they were set in the middle. 

Today one of my other favorite food bloggers, Kristan (Confessions of a Cookbook Queen) posted some Caramel Brownies that have a bit of a different approach but same end result.  Feel free to check our her recipe or Leslie's and decide which one appeals to you most. If you don't want a ton of caramel going on, use mine. If you like more, go with one of theirs. (The candies they used had a bit more caramel punch.)

Enjoy!

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So, Facebook is a great in lots of ways. But lately they are getting weird. I have learned that most of you guys may not be seeing my posts since Facebook only allows a small percentage of you to see them in your news feed. If you want to be able to see anything I post on Facebook, follow the steps below to ensure it is displayed in your feed. 

1) Hover over the "LIKED" Button 
2) Click "Add to interest lists" otherwise you will only see a small percentage or none of my posts
3) Start an interest list, with my page and your other favorite pages as well. One of my lists is called "Favorite Food Blogs."

You can also subscribe to me by email or follow me on Twitter. 

My New "Can't Do Without"

So I have never owed a cast iron skillet until now. I know. A southern cook without a cast iron skillet? That's like Superman without his cape, Linus without his blanket or Pee Wee without his bike. Those references totally date me. I'm okay with that. 

My mom found this beauty for me at the Peddler's Mall. Are you familiar with these places? We call it a Peddler's Mall in Kentucky but I am sure there are similar set-ups all over the world. Basically sellers rent booth space to sell their wares which consist of antiques, yard sale type items and even new things. No one mans the booths and there is one check out at the front so you can feel free to browse without pressure. It's an amazing treasure hunt. You never know what you will find. One time I found a book called The Professional. It was a very short book published at the turn of the century about a man who installed out houses. I could kick myself for not getting it.

My mom makes this AMAZING deep dish pizza in her cast iron skillet and now I do the same. There is something about this skillet that just makes things taste better. You see, cast iron skillets are like fine wines. They get better with age. But, they have to be treated with the utmost care.  They can't be put in the dishwasher and in fact they can't be soaked or left in water for very long at all. Each time I am done with mine, I wipe it out real good with a wet washcloth (not much of anything ever sticks to it) and wipe the inside down with an oiled paper towel. This is called "seasoning" the skillet. A cast iron skillet is the treasured item of a southern cook.

So for the pizza, I just press my dough into the skillet, add sauce, cheese and toppings and bake at 450 until the cheese is bubbly and a bit brown. I will NEVER make regular pizza again. This stuff is phenomenal.

My mouth is watering right now. I am a HUGE pizza lover. If I had to choose one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would definitely be pizza.

Obviously there is SO much more you can do with a cast iron skillet. Martha Stewart swears by it for frying chicken. My mom uses it for many cooking jobs. It has a ton of uses from frying up bacon or sausage to sauteing veggies to chicken pot pie. I even found an apple upside-down-type cake online the other day that turns out beautiful from one. It was touted to knock your socks off. I hope to try it soon.

So my advice when it comes to a cast iron skillet? As Turtleman would say, "Getcha some!"

Marshmallow Pops

I made some S'mores Pops for a fundraiser this week but I wanted to make an additional pop of some sort to sell alongside them. I had found an alternate take on the pops on Pinterest that involved putting a marshmallow on a stick, dipping it in chocolate and rolling it in crushed graham crackers.  I think I have mentioned before that I am not a big fan of s'mores because I don't like marshmallows. (Un-American, I admit.) But I LIVE for the sweet and salty snack. And since everything is all about me (please note the sarcasm) I got the wheels turning and came up with the beauty above. 

Have you seen these guys?

They are a bit smaller than baseballs and while they are way to big for s'mores they are great for snacking and PERFECT for this project. 

These pops are simple. First, I melted just a few white chocolate chips. Then I dipped the stick into the melt and planted it into the marshmallow. (The white chocolate "glues" the stick into the marshmallow.) Next, I dipped the marshmallow into melted chocolate and rolled it in a combination of crushed pretzels and fall colored sprinkles. 

Let me tell ya, these things rock. And this is coming from someone who could do without Marshmallows. But the sweetness of the mallow coupled with the salty crunchy pretzels then backed up by a chocolate  kick? It's the perfect candy marriage. 

And since it's the S'mores time of year I thought I would share this ingenius product wtih you.

I used these to make the S'mores pops this time and I will never use a regular marshmallow again. These are fabulous! Why did it take so long for someone to come up with a flat marshmallow for s'mores? Just as good as sliced bread in my book. 

Have a great weekend!

I Was Abducted by Aliens

I'm back! Yes, I am still alive and kickin'. Don't worry. I was not abducted by aliens. (As far as I know.) It's just that life has been happening at full force for the last couple of months. I have continued to bake some but just have not had the time or desire to post for a bit. But not to fear. I have plenty of creations and favorite things to share with my faithful readers. Thanks for hanging in there, guys. You are the reason I do this!

So on to cakes...

I made this squeal-worthy cake this weekend for a girl named Ally. Ally loves One Direction. Are you familiar with the band? If you don't have a tween in the house you might not be, unless you are like me and follow lots of celebrity gossip blogs. They were on the UK's X Factor a few seasons back and their songs are super catchy. Basically they are the British equivalent of The Backstreet Boys or five Justin Biebers. In my day it was New Kids on the Block. Oh, that Donnie Wahlberg. He was such a bad boy.

So here are the guys of One Direction (from L to R): Naill, Zayn, Louis, Liam and Harry. (I had to use Google images to figure this out. I don't know them THAT well.)  Apparently one is dating Demi Levato, another dates cougars and another cheats on his girlfriend frequently. Again, I get my information from gossip blogs so what do I know?

I used a sugar image for this cake. I love sugar images. (Remember the Caillou cake?) You can get just about anything you want on a cake without having Rembrandt drawing skills. I searched "One Direction cake sugar image" and found it on eBay. There were several different designs. The company even personalized it for free!

I decorated the cake in pink and purple icing and made it even more special by adding pearl embellishments.

This cake was so much fun to make and I was so happy with how it turned out! The birthday girl loved it, too.

And by the way, Harry is my favorite. (It doesn't hurt that he is the only one whose name I can remember.) I think it's his curly locks. He's just a cutie pie.

I'll see you guys again by the end of the week! (I promise with sprinkles on top.)