Cupcakes!

This may very well be my most random blog entry yet, but it should be a fun one nonetheless! I have decided that cupcakes are just about the most fantastic baked good ever. They are fun and delicious and there's so much you can do with one. While I was home in March, I came across a fantastic cupcake recipe book at Goodwill for about $2. It is called Cupcakes! From the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. All of the recipes use cake mix as their base. I have been having non-stop fun with this book ever since. My first experiment was the Peanut Butter Surprise cupcakes that I made for my mom's birthday. With a delicious peanut butter-y cake, chocolate buttercream frosting, and chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups on the top, these were a huge hit. The surprise? A Hershey's kiss baked into the center of each cupcake.

My next venture was into the muffin section of the book. I was signed up to bring snack to my Thursday morning class during the same week that Wellstone was on spring break. Since I knew I'd have Wednesday off, I thought "Why not use some of that free time baking something special for my fellow MSW students?" So I busted out the Cupcake book and tried out two muffin recipes. The Banana Butter Pecan was moist and delicious, with fresh banana, butterscotch pudding and chopped pecans sprinkled on the bottom and top of each muffin. The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins used real canned pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie stuff), and were dense, yummy and chocolate-y.

The second Monday in April was our monthly book club gathering, and Mira would be hosting. It was also book club member Chelsea's birthday. To celebrate, Mira and I both made cupcakes from the book. Mira made the healthier option, the Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Whipped Lemon Cream Frosting and Raspberries and I made the more decadent option, the Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. The batter for my cupcakes was the most incredible thing in the world. I had to beat a cup of sour cream into the batter, which gave it this very marshmallow-y like texture. Then it had crushed oreos mixed in and half of an oreo cookie baked into the bottom of each one.

My next occasion for cupcake-baking came when I volunteered to bring some baked goods for the School of Social Work bake sale. So I made Pineapple Banana Smoothie cupcakes with Pineapple Buttercream frosting. They were so yummy! But as I was in the process of making them, I had the strangest feeling about the bake sale. I went to check on the date again, and realized that I was making the cupcakes a week ahead of time. Oops! So I ended up bringing the 2 dozen cupcakes to my Wednesday night class. They were a big hit.

Even though the Pineapple Banana Smoothie cupcakes were very delicious, I wanted to try something new the next week, when it came time to make something for the actual bake sale. So I tried out the Malted Milk Cupcakes. These were pretty incredible. It used a yellow cake mix as the base, with chocolate pudding and chocolate chips mixed in (among other ingredients). The frosting was a buttercream, with a couple tablespoons of malted milk power added in. Then they were topped off with crushed malted milk balls. I'm told that they were quite popular at the bake sale. In my opinion, they might have been the most delicious ones yet. Although the Peanut Butter Surprise may come in a very close second.

And that is all of the cupcake baking that I have done up until now! There are still many, many recipes in the book that I want to try out. But I won't be making any until another occasion comes up. Otherwise we just have a bunch of cupcakes sitting around the house, and that is NEVER a good thing!!