Z as in Zebra

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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In the “After Dinner Cupcakes” chapter, every recipe calls for some sort of alcohol. You can tell by the name that these called for rum. In fact, the first step was to soak raisins in rum for 30 minutes.

Then the rum was boiled with some butter and sugar to make a syrupy mixture.

The syrup was added to the dry ingredients along with the soaked raisins.

Ready to go in the oven!

Baked:

Mmm. Wish you could smell these! Look at that sweet, sticky cupcake dome!

Rum was also used in the icing. Then, each cupcake was topped with a raisin.

I’m ready for my close-up.

Look at that sweet, slightly crusted icing and that moist cakey goodness! Whew!

*CHOMP!* Delish!

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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If you like chocolate and mint together, you would LOVE these cupcakes! Layer upon layer of chocolate, then mint, then chocolate, then mint. Mmm.

I was so excited to have a chance to use the cupcake papers my friends Emily and Jacee had gotten me for my birthday–pretty much the greatest gift for a baker and paper-lover like me! For these cupcakes I chose the obvious choice–brown!

As with pretty much every other recipe, I started by creaming butter and sugar…soon to be followed by eggs (shown hiding in the background).

While the butter and sugar are combining, I measured out the dry ingredients, including cocoa powder, as well as a half-cup of Andes mint chips.

Dry ingredients were added to the batter mixture.

As well as some half-and-half.

Then, the mint chips were sprinkled on top of the batter and pressed in slightly.

Would you LOOK AT THAT?! Mmm.

Once the cupcakes came out of the oven, they looked like pure perfection…but we’re not finished yet!

((look at those mint chunks! Yummy!))

Butter and powdered sugar form the base for the icing…

And a little green coloring and some drops of peppermint extract make everything a bit mintier.

What a beauty! But we’re still not done! (remember what I said about layers and layers?!)

Next, I melted some dark chocolate to make a ganache.

And each cupcake was dipped in the chocolate and then topped with a Junior Mint!

Woo hoo! Chocolate, mint, chocolate, mint, chocolate, mint!

Hallelujah!

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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In the Kids’ Cupcakes section of the book, there is a recipe for Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. Um, YUM!

You start by adding a bunch of crushed-up Oreo cookies to the vanilla batter.

Mix it all up…

And bake until they look like this:

LOOK at those yummy chunks of cookie. Fresh out of the oven, these cupcakes smelled a lot like cookies and cream ice cream, so I knew I was on the right track!

Then, you mix up a bunch of softened butter and cream cheese…

…and melt some white chocolate.

Cream the two together to make the most amazing white-chocolate icing to spread on your cupcakes. (It’s reminiscent of the cream filling in an Oreo).

Grab a heapin’ helping of mini Oreos.

Frost your cupcakes with the white chocolate icing and add a couple minis to decorate.

MMM.

Then, unwrap that sucker as fast as you can and dig in!!!

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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One of the most mouth-watering photos in the cookbook is from the “Gourmet Cupcakes” chapter: Tarte Tatin Cupcakes with Caramelized Apples (Lord, have mercy!)

And having a fridge full of fresh apples from Nebraska (thanks, Grandpa!), this proved to be the perfect recipe to tackle next.

The batter was fairly typical, but used brown sugar rather than white, like most of the other recipes do. So, naturally, these smelled extra yummy while they were baking.

Next, I peeled four nice, crisp apples from my grandparents’ orchard…

and cut each one into 16 slices.

Next, I melted some butter in a shallow skillet and squeezed on as many apples as I could so I wouldn’t have to do more than 2 batches of frying!

YUM! Look at how they bubble. Mmm.

There’s definitely an art to caramelizing an apple just right. And I’ve only got 2 years of gas-stovetop experience under my belt. Some looked perfect, while others got a little dark. I was extra-careful to arrange the over-cooked ones dark-side-down on the cupcakes.

Next, you pile a few apple slices on top of each cupcake.

That alone makes a pretty presentation.

But if you want to go in for the kill, you can drizzle a little bit of caramel sauce over the top! The instructions included a recipe for caramel glaze, but I ran out of time before Andrew and I had to be at Bible study, so I just used the store-bought caramel used for topping ice cream. If you zap it in the microwave for just a few seconds, it has the perfect consistency!

Whew. I’m definitely going to make these again once I get through the rest of the book.

Here’s the final result, packed in my carrier and ready to travel!

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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I was surprised by this recipe because it contains no sugar. The batter was thicker (not unlike cookie dough) and the yummy crumbles were added to the top before baking.

But what do you do when you get in such a hurry that the cupcakes are in the oven before you remember to take any pictures? Take a picture while they are baking, of course!

And when they come out of the oven, they look as scrum-diddly-umptious as THIS. Just look at those chocolate chips and walnut chunks. YUM!

Remember when I shared how to cover a circular board to create a platter? Another trick that I use to jazz up a boring old plate is to cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit my square, white serving tray. That way, you can use any paper that  matches the theme of the party (or other dishes) AND clean-up is a bit easier because the paper catches most of the crumbs and spills!

YUM!

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

***

There’s something fantastic about adding real fruit to a recipe. And with Blue Blueberry N Cream Cupcakes, you start with a cup of frozen, defrosted blueberries.

Then you cream together the butter and sugar, add the juicy berries, and bake.

Breathe deeply as the smell of freshly baked blueberry cupcakes fills your kitchen. Yum.

This was my first time using whipping cream for the icing and it did NOT work out well for me. I had it completely chilled, but I guess I should’ve gone a step further and stuck my beaters and bowl in the fridge for a while before using them. Instead, I got a milky, blueberry pool.

So, what do you do? DIP THEM!

Luckily, whipping cream is thick enough to coat a cupcake, even if it doesn’t set up. So I dipped each one and let the excess drip off a little.

They turned out pretty cute, huh?

And as a set, they look absolutely delicious!!

Bon Appetit!