Welcome, first timers. It seems my workload has not allowed me to bask in the glory of the baked world recently, at least not enough so I may write about my delectable cupcake encounters.  In case you haven’t been able to taste any of my concoctions over the past few months, here’s a look at what you have all been missing:

at the height of blueberry season, my senses were on overload when I baked up 4 dozen of these blueberry babies. I finished them off with authentic, homemade streusel on top.

my first batch of completely home made red velvet cupcakes turned out even better than I had hoped. I happily shared them with some of my closest friends when we all spent Valentine's Day together

In March, some friends and I organized a bake sale to support the non profit organization Cookies for Kid's Cancer. Our event raised $600 for the cause, and raised even more eyebrows at the sheer amount of donated baked goods we received (pictured here are the 4 dozen cupcakes I made...we received over 500 individual pieces of different brownies, cupcakes, cookies and assorted desserts. Team Sweets truly felt the love!)

More recently, I received the newest addition to the "Hello, Cupcake!" family of do-it-yourself cupcake ideas, entitled "What's New, Cupcake?" One of the tasty and adorable ideas in the book included these babies, Bake Sale Cakes. My piping is a little off as far as accuracy and neatness goes, but really, these bright colors are just too tempting to resist

Another adorable and relatively easy (really!) cupcake idea included these guys, yellow rubber duckies. The instructions included ways to make the ducks look like they are diving under water with their little ducky webbed feet sticking up out of it! More pictures to come with round 2 of these guys, when my mother and I attempt to make some magic for a friend's baby shower!

Meanwhile, I’ve got more ideas a-brewing than I have time to complete them. Hopefully in the coming weeks I will have successfully attempted more new recipes. Sharing is caring, after all!!

I’ll admit I haven’t been able to try them due to my recent loss of my wisdom teeth, but due to the small amount of improvising I had to do, I am not afraid to admit these babies probably look a smidge better than they taste.

Oh well, there is always the next snow storm!

Here is the recipe, I adjusted it from one I found in my foodnetwork magazine:

Morning Buzz Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

3 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 1/4 tablespoons instant espresso powder

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line your muffin tins with paper liners. Put the butter, cocoa powder, 1 oz of unsweetened baking chocolate and 3/4 cup water in a medium microwaveable-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. Whisk to combine, then whisk in the brown sugar and espresso powder.

After the chocolate and butter are melted, put the brown sugar in the bowl, and be sure to break up clumps. The moisture from the sugar tends to create small balls, which makes for a not-so-smooth batter

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the warm cocoa mixture.

Whisking the chocolate, the dry and the wet ingredients separately makes for a smoother batter; when you combine them all, the less stirring that occurs, the better for the batter

In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla; stir into the batter until just combined, but don’t over mix.

*Note: You can buy buttermilk at your local grocery store, but for the lazy baker like me, you can also make it at home easily enough. For this particular recipe, I combined 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar with 1 cup of 2% milk, and let it sit at room temperature for about 10-20 minutes. It’s supposed to get chunky, so don’t get worried! Then simply combine it with the other ingredients. Voila!

It may not seem appetizing now, but oh the magic of the oven!

Divide the batter among the prepared cups, filling each about 3/4 of the way.( I seem to always have a problem with this, which results in cupcakes that are either too big (is there such a thing as a cupcake that is too big?) or that fall too low below the liner-line. If that is the worst mistake you make in your baking ventures, be thankful! )Bake the cupcakes for about 20-30 minutes (in my particular oven, they baked for 25 minutes exactly), until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Place them on a cooling rack to cool, and begin to prepare  the toppings.

Toppings:

For some crunch and texture, I used chocolate Oreo cookies. I simply split them in half, scraped off the cream in the middle, and crushed the cookies. Use as many as you like, and crush the cookies to whatever consistency you see fit- whether you prefer bigger chunks, or more of a dusting of chocolate is up to you!

You may think the double stuf filling is going to waste, but lest we forget, I have brothers.

Next, for the frosting/glaze portion. Ideally, I would have used a store-bought chocolate frosting, microwaved it until it got a smooth consistency with a shiny gloss, and dipped the cupcakes in headfirst for a smooth covering; but alas, I did not have the correct icing for the job. Whipped frostings do not hold up as well, and that was all I had in my cupboard. So, I improvised. I simply microwaved semi-sweet chocolate chips, with about 1/4 cup of corn syrup until smooth. I added 1 tablespoon of espresso powder, and spread the “grosting” (glaze/frosting) on top of the cupcakes, and covered them with the Oreos. While not exactly what I wanted, I have always learned to improvise with what I have.

Before

After

So there you have it! Of course, you can always substitute from scratch cupcakes with a box of devil’s food cake mix (just add in the espresso powder with the dry cake mix). And nothing goes better with a chocolatey, mocha cupcake than a glass of super cold milk, even on a snowy day. Now, get your buzz on!

I don’t have many political or socially beneficial rants or thoughts for the most part, so a blog was sort of out of the question…

But I sure do love sweets!

So I thought I would try and share my ideas and creations here with you guys, and get some awareness out for some local pastry legends!

As an avid cookbook reader and Food Network watcher, I have realized a few things about today’s American cuisine:

1. People take food way too seriously these days. Food is about fun! And friends! And most importantly, love! People don’t bake because they have to…they bake because they love it! I am here to try and emphasize that tiny facet that it seems all of these bigwig food “experts” have forgotten about!

2. Judgment comes in all shapes and sizes, and pastry chefs and cooks alike are not an exception to this rule! Let’s focus on the fun in food people! If it looks good, smells good, feels good..well, you get the point!

3. Finally, discrimination does NOT stand a chance around here! Whether you are a seasoned, cultured, French educated professional, a trial-by-error college student struggling with the mere knuts and bolts of the bottom of the culinary food chain necessities, or a practiced grandma whose only experience comes from her own kitchen, if your food is good, it’s good people!

Now, let’s eat!