Hitting a Funny Bone

I had some extra chocolate cupcakes the other day, so I decided to make cake pops.  After discovering peanut butter flavored chocolate at A.C. Moore I couldn’t resist trying a peanut butter cup cake pop.  They came out so good.

After I dipped the cake in the chocolate, I rolled it in cut up pieces of mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joes (I LOVE that place).

I gave one to my friend who said it tasted like a Funny Bone. She hit the nail on the head. They really do taste like Funny Bones. DELICIOUS!

SWEET 16

Today I made some cute polka dot cupcakes for a special young ladies 16th birthday.

The polka dots and numbers are made from chocolate. I was going to use fondant but thought the chocolate would taste better.  I mean… who doesn’t like a nice chunk of chocolate in or on your cupcake?  YUM, right?

Happy Birthday Sophia!

Spark and Hustle

On Friday night, me and two of the greatest women I know participated in the Celebrate Your SWEET Success event at Tori Johnson’s Spark and Hustle Boston.

We had such a great time giving out samples of vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and cappuccino cupcakes. We met many amazing women who are working to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true.   What an inspiring night it turned out to be.

Thanks to all of my friend and family who helped me prepare for the event.

Cake Pops

What could possibly be better than a bit of cake mashed in frosting and dipped in chocolate???  Other than world peace, I’m not sure what else could compete.  OK, that’s a total exaggeration but it sounds REALLY good right?

I’m talking about cake pops. They are becoming more and more popular these days and I can understand why. They are just the right size for those of you who want something sweet but can’t commit to a whole slice of cake or  cupcake (I don’t know any of these people but I hear they exist).

The cake pops in this picture are vanilla cake with traditional buttercream frosting dipped in both white and dark chocolate.  Today I picked up peanut butter flavored chocolate that I’ll use to make a peanut butter cup cake pop. Oh YUM!!

If you’re planning on trying to make your own cake pops, I would suggest choosing your decorations wisely.  Big crunchy decorations can be difficult to eat as well as hard on the teeth.

ENJOY!!!

Holy Cupcake!!!

The First Holy Communion season is upon us!

I wanted to make a cupcake to celebrate the First Holy Communion of two very special little ladies. While strolling through A.C. Moore I came upon a chocolate mold with some small crosses. It added just enough decoration to a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate buttercream frosting to make it even more irresistible.

  

This weekend I also played around with brightly colored fondant. I made some small flowers to top off a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. They came out so cute and looked so delicate.

Now on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, you can now find me at:
http://twitter.com/beantowncupcake

Be sure to follow me if you’d like updates on my baking adventure.

I’m on Fire

My sister-in-law asked “have you ever make a lemon meringue cupcake?”…. Challenge accepted!

I’ve never made meringue before and to be honest, raw eggs make me nervous.  After doing some research online, my confidence was high and I was ready to get started. However, to make a proper meringue I would need to buy a kitchen torch. Off I went to Bed Bath & Beyond with my 20% off coupon in hand.

An hour later I was ON FIRE! I constructed my lemon cupcake and added a nice lemon curd filling.  Now it was on to my meringue. Happily I found that it was easier to make than a standard buttercream frosting.  I piped it on to my almost thoroughly cooked cupcakes and baked it for about 5 more minutes.

Once I took them out of the oven, the meringue had just started to brown.  Now it was time to LIGHT IT UP!  I set up my kitchen torch and got to it. I quickly learned that not only does meringue burn quickly but so doesn’t the paper cupcake cup!!!

Who knew making cupcakes could be so dangerous?

The key is to keep the torch a good distance away from the meringue and slowly move all the way around the cupcake. Move the torch a little closer and again move your way around the cupcake.  Keep moving around evenly until it reaches the desired color.

Enjoy!