36 Oreo Cupcakes

Once again, it's somebody's birthday at work. I'm going to start to card people to see if it really is their birthday and that they aren't just conning me into making them cupcakes. I didn't think making these would be a problem and I had most of the ingredients except for the very important Oreos.

Making the cupcakes was a breeze. The recipe says it makes 24 cupcakes. I made 36 and still had tons of cake batter left over. The only thing stopping me from making more cupcakes was that I ran out of Oreos. They baked for a lot longer than the 15-20 minutes. I had them in the oven for 26 minutes. The cupcakes came out of the oven with beautifully rounded tops.

The icing was really weird. When I read about the cupcakes, the blog said that the icing would be worth it. I figured, I'll give it a shot. To start the icing, you need to cook milk and flour. I have a few suggestions. Hopefully, if you make these, this will go more smoothly for you than it did for me. First, stir it with a wooden spoon, don't keep whisking it. Second tip: Have the stove on more of a medium-low than just plain old low. And if none of that helps you, add a quarter cup more of flour. The mixture gets pasty and starts sticking to the spoon.  After you let the ball of flour mush cool, it's smooth sailing to the finish. All you have to do is top the cupcakes with icing and stick a mini Oreo on it. These cupcakes aren't super chocolaty. The most chocolaty part is the Oreos themselves on the bottom of the cupcakes. The icing, although not very good on its own, makes the cupcakes taste like the cookies.

Weird milk and flour mixture before I put it in the fridge

Cupcakes Ingredients
2 c sugar
2 c flour
3/4 c cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 package of instant chocolate pudding
3 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 c sour cream
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 c coffee
24 Oreos, twisted apart

Cupcakes How to
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Add oil, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until blended (about 2 minutes). Slowly add hot coffee. Beat for 30 seconds.
3. Put Oreos in cupcakes papers cream side up. Fill liners 1/2 full.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
5. Let cool.

Icing Ingredients
1 c milk
3/4 c flour
1/2 c butter
1/2 c Crisco
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
24 Oreo tops, crushed

Icing How to
1. Place milk in a small saucepan. Sprinkle flour in milk, 1/4 cup at a time and whisk until smooth.
2. Place saucepan over low heat and stir constantly until the mixture becomes thick and pulls into a ball.
3. Remove from heat and put ball into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the mixture and tuck around it to make sure there are no exposed parts. Refrigerate until cooled to room temperature or cooler (about 30 minutes).
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and Crisco. Add cooled flour/milk mixture and beat until well blended. Mix in vanilla. With mixer on medium, gradually add sugar and continue to beat the icing after adding the sugar for an additional 10 to 12 minutes until noticeably whiter and creamy. Add Oreo crumbs and mix until just blended.
5. Frost cupcakes and garnish with a mini Oreo.

from mychocolatetherapy.blogspot.com

22 Gregberry Cupcakes

A Girl's Adventure in Inventing Her Own Cupcakes

In my whole life, I'm sure I've used over 2,000 cupcake papers, but in all my years of cupcaking, I have always looked up a recipe. I've had many intense brain storming sessions about cupcake flavors to make. After considering many suggestions, I thought that a strawberry and blueberry cupcake sounded like a good plan for my undertaking in becoming a recipe author. The recommendation came from the coolest, nicest, awesomest general manager ever in the universe (for whom the cupcakes get their namesake). I've been thinking about how and what to do with these cupcakes. Should I use fresh strawberries or strawberry jelly or strawberry soda? Should I have a whipped icing or a cream cheese icing? That's just the start of all the questions I've asked myself over the past 2 weeks. Over the weekend, I did extensive cupcake research and settled on what I was going to do to make this dream of a cupcake come to life.

Since I've made plenty of cupcakes, I knew what the batter needed to look like each step of the way. So I began. I added the normal cupcake ingredients in the same way I normally would if I was following a recipe in a book. Everything went very smoothly to my surprise. The batter was perfect. They went in and came out 19 minutes later. They were perfect! I had to taste them. I'm not going to lie about it, just so you make these miracle cupcakes. They kind of disappointed me at first. The fresh strawberries didn't give them enough of a strawberry flavor. They are tasty though, like a self contained strawberry shortcake.

Even though I felt very ambitious, making cupcakes from my own invented concoction an all, I wasn't about to make everything from scratch. The cheesecake pudding mix is just enough pudding-y and cheesecake-y to make the perfect cupcake filling and be the perfect compliment to the store bought blueberry pie filling. After I cored the cupcakes, I squashed the loose cake in the middle  down with the end of a spoon to leave plenty of room to fill the cupcakes. I used a zippy bag to squeeze the cheesecake pudding into the cupcakes and two spoons to put the pie filling in (one to scoop up the pie filling and the other to scrape it off the spoon and into the cupcakes).

I made the icing just as I would make any other butter cream icing, only adding  strawberry puree and blueberry pie filling. In the end, it's your preference. If you want your icing to taste more blueberry or strawberry add more of whichever you like best.

I think that, considering this was my first journey in recipe writing, I did pretty well. When I took the first bite of the completed project, I literally said "oh my god, these are amazing". And to think this recipe came from the deep recesses of my brain... to me that's unbelievable.


Gotta save the strawberry tops for my Bunnies

Cupcake Ingredients
3/4 c strawberries
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c milk

Cupcake How to
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Chop the strawberries into small pieces.
3. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mix well between each egg. Add vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5. Alternate adding the dry ingredients (in 3 parts) and milk (in 2 parts).
6. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full. Bake for about 18 minutes.
7. Allow the cupcakes to cool entirely

Filling Ingredients
instant pudding mix- cheesecake flavored
blueberry pie filling

Filling How to
1. Follow the instructions to make the pudding. Allow it to set (usually about 5 minutes)
2. Core the cupcakes.
3. Using a bag, fill the cupcakes 2/3 of the way full with pudding.
4. Fill the rest of the way with blueberry pie filling.

Remember to leave some room for the Blueberries

Icing Ingredients
2 sticks of butter
4 c powdered sugar
1/4 c of strawberries, pureed
2 tsp heaping blueberry pie filling

Icing How to
1. Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.
2. Add half of the pureed strawberries. Add blueberries.
3. Continue adding more strawberry until desired consistency is reached (water can also be used)
4. Frost cupcakes and garnish with a strawberry.

23 Champagne Cupcakes

Despite the fact that, generally, baking cupcakes is fun and makes me happy, these ones kind of bummed me out. I made them for one of the coolest girls I've ever had a chance to work with. We've had fun adventures (one epic Sunday one comes to mind), crazy times at work together (Valentine's Day night), and some great quality time together (like the time she met my bunnies and turned out to be allergic... oops). Anyway... She's super awesome and I wanted to bake going away cupcakes for her and nothing says "good luck with all your future pursuits" like champagne. Since alcohol cupcakes is "my thing" to all my coworkers, I figured I'd give these a whirl.

A few great things about these particular cupcakes: 1. They have alcohol in them. 2. It's not just any alcohol, but it's bubbly champagne, so you can expect these to be fluffy. 3. They have sour cream in them! I love cupcake recipes with sour cream in them, because they come out moist and perfect. 4. I like to write numbered lists. It's simple enough to make these following the directions. It warns that the batter will be a little thick; I didn't think it was though. Also, it's recommended to use "a level 1/4 cup" to fill the cupcake papers. I did two and I was annoyed so I just used the trusty half full ice cream scoop. They only baked for 17 minutes and came out just right.

Thickened Pastry Filling

I expected the custard filling to be the most difficult part of this recipe, but it wasn't as hard as i was anticipating. After you pour the hot egg mixture back in the saucepan, stir it until it gets thickens up. It only takes about a minute. I put the custard back into the mixing bowl, instead of beating in the butter and vanilla in the pan. That would not have turned out well. I envisioned molten hot custard all over the kitchen and me in the hospital.

If you don't happen to have a cupcake corer, cutting a chunk out of your cupcakes with a knife would work just fine. Even though the recipe doesn't say to, I chilled the custard before filling my cupcakes with it. Going back to another cupcake baker's arsenal, I just used a zippy back with the corner snipped off to put the custard in the cupcakes.

Reduced Champagne. This was a little bit more than 2 Tbsp.

To reduce the champagne, it took a little bit of time. How long? Long enough to clean up the kitchen a little bit and load the dish washer. I put 2 tablespoons of water in a bowl to get an idea of what it would look like. Then, all you have to do is whip together all the ingredients. I added a little extra champagne so you could taste it more. Overall, even though there is champagne in ever element of these cupcakes, it's the custard that you taste it the most in. The different parts of them makes for a triple threat, at least as far as cupcakes go.

Cupcake Ingredients:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c champagne

Cupcake How to:
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until lightly fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix.
3. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together champagne and sour cream. The mixture will fizz and bubble a little.
5. Add flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Batter will be thick.
6. Fill cupcake papers with 1/4 c level measures of batter.
7. Bake for 17-22 minutes.

Champagne Pastry Creme Filling Ingredients:
1/2 c heavy cream, divided
1/2 c champagne
2 Tbsp cornstarch
5 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Filling How To:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk cornstarch into 1/4 c heavy cream.
2. Combine the remaining heavy cream, sugar and champagne in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
3. Beat the whole egg and yolks into the cornstarch/heavy cream mixture.
4. Pour 1/3 of the boiling champagne mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs do not cook.
5. Return the remaining champagne/heavy cream mixture to a boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.
6. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
7. Cut a divot into the top of each cupcake and fill with pastry cream. Trim the cut-out pieces flat to make a "lid" and place on top of the filled divot.

Champagne Frosting Ingredients:
1 c plus 1 Tbsp champagne
2 sticks of butter
2 1/2 c powdered sugar

Frosting How to:
1. Place 1 c champagne in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 2 Tbsp. Transfer to a small bowl and allow to cool.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk, cream butter and powdered sugar.
3. Once, the frosting is thick and fluffy, pour in reduced 2 Tbsp champagne plus the 1 Tbsp from the bottle and mix well.
4. Frost the cream filled cupcakes and decorate with dragees.

19 Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

I promised the girls in my mom's office that I would bake cupcakes for her birthday on Monday. I wanted to find something interesting. These cupcakes caught my eye right away. I knew we had a super ripe banana waiting for me to feed to my rabbits (yes, bunnies love bananas) that I could use. While I was baking these, I felt like the roles from my childhood had been reversed. I was baking the cupcakes for my mom to take for all her friends.

The spontaneity of these cupcakes put a kink in my baking, since I couldn't wait for a second banana to get extra brown and mushy for me to bake with. I just picked the ripest one I could find at the store. If your bananas aren't easy enough to smash with a fork, chop them up really fine and then mash them. The recipe for the icing made more than I needed. I could eat the icing by the spoonful though! It's so creamy and smooth. It's the perfect consistency for any icing. Don't be afraid to pile it on the cupcakes. To decorate the cupcakes, I just put some peanuts in a zippy bag and smashed them up with the side of a knife. I sprinkled on the peanuts and topped them off with a banana chip (and fed a few chips to the rabbits). These cupcakes are a complete tasty package. The peanutty taste isn't too much to overpower the banana in the cupcake itself. Peanut butter and banana is a flavor match made in heaven.



Into the Oven!!

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 very ripe bananas
1/2 c sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Cupcake How To
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Put cupcake papers in a cupcake pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Mash bananas with a fork until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into the bananas.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, for about 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 addition, beginning and ending with the flour.
5. Pour batter into cupcake papers.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1/2 c smooth peanut butter
chopped lightly roasted peanuts.

Frosting How To
1. Sift powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Beat until smooth.
2. Spread over cupcakes. Sprinkle with peanuts

30 Chocolate Cupcakes

How much does a cupcake cost?

For as long as I can remember, we've always just had baking stuff on hand. Flour, baking powder, vanilla, eggs, and all the other necessary ingredients were always (and still are) in stock in the various cupboards of our kitchen. So, when people ask me how much it costs me to make the cupcakes they enjoy, I could never give them an answer. Honestly, I never even thought about it, until today. While I was wandering around the grocery store, I wrote down all the prices for every ingredient needed for these basic chocolate cupcakes. I used a lot of math that I didn't think I'd ever apply, but I got the numbers (hopefully they're right).

The cupcakes were a lot easier to make than doing the math was. It only took one bowl. I normally use an ice cream scoop to put the batter into the cupcake pan, but since the batter turns out really thin, I think pouring the batter from a measuring cup with a spout would be less messy. I took the cupcakes out after the 20 minutes and they were perfectly baked. These cupcakes are really moist and perfectly chocolaty. It's a simple cupcake to whip up, just like chocolate cupcakes should be.

Ingredients
$.5214815               2 c sugar
0.18986301            1 3/4 c flour
0.01079365            1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1.31792597             3/4 c cocoa
0.03762712            1 1/2 tsp baking powder
0.29333334            2 eggs
price negligible      1 tsp salt
0.27125                    1 c milk
0.23166668            1/2 c vegetable oil
0.78933328           2 tsp vanilla
2.99644127 total

That's less than 10₵  a cupcake!!

How to
1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line the cupcake pans.
2. Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium for 1 minute.
4. Stir in the boiling water.
5. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full
6. Bake for 22-24 minutes.


I just topped these cupcakes off with a basic butter cream icing that I colored purple. If you don't like your icing super sweet, don't add as much sugar. I feel 1/2 cup less is just right.

Ingredients
4 c powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter
1 tsp vanilla
hot water

How to
Beat the ingredients in a mixer. Add hot water until the desired consistency is reached. If the icing gets too runny, add more sugar.

If you're wondering how much the icing cost... About 7₵  a cupcake.

cupcake recipe from glorioustreats.blogspot.com

24 Smores Cupcakes

I've made these cupcakes once before, but when my mom told me that she told our pastor that we would bake something for a game night at our church, I knew that these cupcakes were just right. Plus, they're just so darn cute!

These cupcakes are simple enough to make. The best way to finely chop your chocolate bars is to just throw them in the food processor and let them go for a little. As for the graham crackers, I just put them in the plastic bag and smashed them up. You could put them in the food processor, too, if you're feeling extra lazy. The amounts for the water, oil, and eggs are what was listed on the box of yellow cake mix I used. You might have to use different amounts depending on what brand you use.

As for the icing, just as simple. I wish it tasted more like marshmallow. I would put in a half cup less of powdered sugar if you don't like your icing super sweet. Placing the teddies and chocolate pieces on top really finishes off these cupcakes. I dipped the teddy grahams in the left over icing. It was a great way to avoid eating one of the cupcakes.

Ingredients
1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix
1 c Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 c Water
5 Chocolate Bars (4 finely chopped, 1 for garnish)
1/3 c Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs
1 jar (7 oz) Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 c Butter
2 c powdered sugar
Teddy Grahams
Water

How To
1. Preheat oven to 350. Make the cake mix as directed. Fold in graham cracker crumbs and chopped chocolate bars. Pour into cupcake cups.
2. Bake for 18-23 minutes. Cool completely.
3. In a large bowl, beat marshmallow fluff, butter, and powdered sugar on low until blended. Beat in water 1/2 tsp at a time until frosting is spreadable. Spread on cupcakes. Divide chocolate bar into rectangles and place them on top of each cupcake with a teddy graham.

from bettycrocker.com

16 Dark & White Fudge Cupcakes

Since I have undertaken writing this cupcake blog, a friend of mine bought me a cupcake recipe book. After paging through it about a dozen times (at least half of those times while we were at work), I settled on these. I wasn't going to bake cupcakes tonight actually, but I feel obligated to bake these for work for a few reasons. 1. Right now most of my followers are my coworkers. 2. One of my awesome managers, who just came back today, will be leaving again and he's missed out on a few good cupcakes while he was away. (and he is probably my biggest fan) 3. Any reason to make cupcakes is good enough for me.

Just a warning.... I had a few "moments" while baking. When I started going through the recipe for these cupcakes, I thought it was kind of weird, but, like any good baker, I just kept on chugging, following the recipe, and doing what it told me to do. The first step has you making this mixture on the stove. Do Not forget to add the corn syrup like I did. I added it later and everything turned out alright. I expected it to be a little thicker and syrup-ier. Mine was pretty runny and very much a liquid, so don't freak out. Next stupid "moment" I had: It's only 3 tablespoons of milk, not 3 cups. How I did that, I have no clue. It's okay to add the syrup mix to the dry ingredients while it's still warm. The batter gets really thick and fudgey, while you're mixing it. When the cupcakes are done baking, they look like pretty, little domes.

Making the frosting didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I also edited the recipe a little. First, I melted the white chocolate. I used 1/4 of white chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter. It would be a good idea to either plan ahead and use a medium bowl for the double boiler, or pour the melted chocolate mixture into a larger bowl. I used the same small bowl that I used for the double boiler to mix the powdered sugar in. Needless to say, I made a giant, sugary mess. When I melted the semisweet chocolate, I used the squares of chocolate. It was a total failure. I ended up not using it at all. Maybe I should have used chocolate chips instead? Maybe I should have used the exact 1 3/4 tablespoon of butter? I tried to save it with no luck. But for a little good luck, I had enough of the white to frost all of my cupcakes. The book suggests using chocolate curls to decorate the cupcakes. I just placed 3 chocolate chips on top. No cutting or danger involved.

In the end, I made awesome cupcakes that earn their namesake and I got to christen my new cookbook with powdered sugar and chocolate shavings.



Ingredients for the Cupcakes
1 c water
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 c sugar
1 Tbsp corn syrup
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c flour
2 Tbsp unsweetened coca

How To
Preheat the oven to 350.
Put the water, butter, sugar, and syrup in a pan. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook gently for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Meanwhile, put the milk and vanilla extract in a bowl. Add the baking soda and stir to dissolve. Sift the flour and cocoa into a separate bowl and add the syrup mixture. Stir in the milk and beat until smooth. Spoon the batting into the paper cases until they are two-thirds full.
Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until will risen and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Ingredients for the Topping
1 3/4 oz semisweet chocolate
4 Tbsp water
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 3/4 oz white chocolate
3 c powdered sugar

How to
To make the topping, break the semisweet chocolate into a small heatproof bowl, add half the water and half the butter, and set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water until melted. Stir until smooth and let stand over the water. Using another bowl, repeat with the white chocolate and remaining water and butter. Sift half the sugar into each bowl and beat until smooth and thick. Top the cupcakes up with the frostings. Let set. Serve decorated with chocolate curls made by shaving the chocolate with a potato peeler.

from Easy Cupcakes

28 Pistachio Cupcakes

As my first undertaking on the 2000 paper long journey, I made pistachio cupcakes. Upon the birthday request of a friend, I whipped up these March appropriate cupcakes.

The recipe for the cupcakes looked easy enough when I found it. The cupcakes get really fluffy because the soda makes them all bubbly. Cupcake bakers beware though, when the recipe says 2/3 full, it means no more than that. A few of mine baked over the edges, half full might have even worked. Although it is very hard to resist, wait until they cool to have a taste, otherwise they stick to the paper and pull apart. The icing took literally 3 minutes to make. All you have to do is put the cream and sugar in the bowl and crank your mixer on high, dump in the pistachio pudding mix, and BAM! You're done. The only problem I had with the icing was piping it on the cupcakes. The actual nuts that are in the pudding mix block up the piping tip. Overall, these cupcakes were just light and fluffy all around. Fluffy cupcakes. Fluffy and whippy icing. Very green and very March ready.


Ingredients
1 box white cake mix
1 c vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 c heavy cream
2 (3.5 oz) pkg instant pistachio pudding
1 c club soda
3 c sugar

How To
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, 1 package of pudding, and club soda in a large bowl. Beat for 3 minutes.
3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
4. In a small bowl add cream and white sugar. Beat until soft peaks form.
5. Add pudding mix. Mix until incorporated.
6. Frost cupcakes. Refrigerate until serving

These cupcakes are so yummy even our cat, Weezer, likes them!

38 Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These would be perfect cupcakes for summertime!

I thought that a whole tablespoon of lemon zest sounded like a lot. I ended up just using 1 1/2 lemon's worth of zest and just one lemon for the lemon juice. Some of the cupcakes were perfectly done at 20 minutes, others I had to keep in for about 3-4 minutes extra. As for the icing... All you have to do is follow the recipe to the letter and I promise that it will blow you away. It's the perfect amount of strawberry to go with the amount of lemony-ness of the cupcakes. The hint of lemon from the zest ties the flavors together. Cupcake Perfection!

Cake Ingredients
2 stick unsalted butter
2 c sugar
4 eggs
3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c lemonade powder
1 c milk
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla

How to
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, lemonade powder, and lemon zest. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar in mixer.
4. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well between adding each eggs.
5. Add lemon juice and vanilla.
6. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk, ending with the dry ingredients.
7. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter
3 Tbsp strawberry puree (about 4 strawberries)
4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon zest

How to
1. Cream butter in mixer for 3 minutes
2. Gradually add powdered sugar
3. Mix in strawberry puree and zest
4. Ice cupcakes

Once Upon A Time....

Once upon a time.... there was this girl, who loved to bake cupcakes. She baked cupcakes for anyone and everyone and any flavor imaginable. One day, she ran out of cupcake papers, so she bought more. Another time, while she was baking, she ran out again, so she bought some more. She went to the store mid-baking hundreds and hundreds of times. Eventually she got frustrated, so her mom ordered 2000 cupcake papers...


That brings us to present day... I face the task of using all of the 2000 cupcake papers. Honestly, it's a challenge I gladly accept. Today I opened the first pack of 500. I will bake my heart out until every white pleated paper is gone...