029: another birthday!

this time it was my mom's birthday, and she loves her garden.  so what more fun could be had than a flower-themed birthday cake?  or, rather, cupcakes.  this was fun, and easy, and absolutely adorable.  i got compliments all night long on these sunflowers :o)

equipment:
knife
plastic bag
scissors
frosting tips if you have them (petal and point)
small flower post (i used really fun colored 3.3" plastic pots from the hardware store (washed, of course!) and stuffed the bottom) 
paper to stuff the bottom of your flower pots


indredients:
cupcakes (i used my red velvet cupcake recipe)
frosting (i used chocolate cream cheese on top of the cupcakes and dyed vanilla for the flowers)
food coloring
oreo or oreo style cookies


steps:
1.) frost your cupcakes with frosting (i used chocolate cream cheese, as it's brown, which looks more like dirt than regular cream cheese frosting to pair with red velvet cupcakes).

2.) place a small daub of the same frosting on the back of an oreo-style cookie and put either one or two cookies on top of each cupcake.

3.) use either colored or dyed frosting for the next part (i used vanilla and colored it yellow with food coloring).  if you don't have frosting tips, place your frosting into a plastic bag and cut one of the corners off (make sure it's small!  frosting comes out quickly, and you can always make it bigger if necessary).  if you do have frosting tips, do the same using the petal tip.

4.) draw petals around the edges of each oreo-style cookie.

5.) repeat step 3 with green frosting, this time using the pointed tip for drawing the leaves.  draw the leaves straight onto the top of the cupcakes.

6.) it might be prudent at this point to freeze your cupcakes, covering them very lightly with plastic cling wrap.  this will harden the frosting and make it easier to handle for the next part.

7.) stuff the bottom of your flower pots with some kind of paper (given the birthday theme i used tissue-style paper) so that the new bottom of the pot is about 2 inches from the top.

8.) place your cupcakes into the pots!


time: about an hour for decorating and finishing time
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦♦ (5 out of 5 stars)
suggestions for variation: play around with different cupcake and frosting combos, different cookies, and different kinds of flowers.  just have fun with it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYNN!

enjoy :o)
-kl

028: red velvet cupcakes

these are the most moist and fluffy cupcakes i've ever eaten in my life.  and i didn't even manage to get a picture of one!  but i used the finished product for my sunflower cupcakes.  prep time was about 10 minutes, and bake time was around 20.


equipment:
cupcake/muffin tins
cupcake/muffin liners
mixing bowl
spoon
measuring equipment


ingredients:
devil's food cake mix (and ingredients the box recipe calls for)
1 package dry pudding mix (i used vanilla)
2 t. vanilla
2 T. instant hot chocolate powder mix
red food coloring
chocolate cream cheese frosting


steps:
1.) preheat your oven according to the instructions on the box.

2.) make the devil's food cake mix according to the box instructions.  add pudding mix (vanilla actually emphasizes the flavor of chocolate, but you could easily use chocolate, too), vanilla, and hot chocolate mix to the batter.  mix until well blended.  add the red food coloring until the batter has a red-ish tint.

3.) fill your cupcake/muffin tins with cupcake/muffin liners, or grease your tins.  fill the tins about 2/3 full and bake according to the box instructions.

4.) let cool completely.  frost as desired, but chocolate cream cheese frosting was wonderful on them!


time: about half an hour
difficulty: 1 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦♦ (5 out of 5 stars)

see how easy that was?  and they're so delicious!  enjoy :o)
-kl