Not dreaming of these cupcakes

A few months ago I decided to make some delicious blueberry cupcakes, I was even going to make them with real blueberries. I'm not really a fan of real blueberries, something about the texture makes them unappealing; I'm more of a fan of the fake, completely artificial "blueberries " that come in the 44 cent box of Jiffy Blueberry muffins. Having never made anything with real blueberries I decided to puree them and add them to the cake mix. Pureed blueberries do not look at all appetizing. Maybe our blender isn't the best, but there were lots of skins and it was an unattractive blue/brownish liquid, mush sort of stuff. Another great decision was that I wanted to make sure I had a nice blueberry flavor so I decided to add some blueberry jello as well, except I couldn't find plain blueberry jello, I could only find berry jello. The box had a picture of two blueberries and one raspberry, so it was as close to blueberry as I was going to get. The result of the experiment...not good. I didn't even make the frosting for the cupcakes, they weren't horrible, but they weren't the cupcakes I had been dreaming of. They tasted like candy, and while that might seem like a good thing for some people, these weren't the kind of candy you want to eat more than one piece. I guess everyone has to have the unsuccessful experiment once and awhile.

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

I made these awhile ago, but haven't really had time to post them. I must say that they have been very well received. They were very simple to make too! Of course the pictures don't do them justice. The cake was cherry flavored and then I added lime buttercream frosting.

So many cupcakes to choose from...

I'm so far behind in my cupcake posting. During the month of June, I went to two cupcakes stores and made over 200 cupcakes and a wedding cake during that time. So where to start? I think that tonight I will blog about the cupcake bakery visits. On a roadtrip that was taken mid-Junish, we stopped in St. Louis at a cute little cupcake store called the Cupcakery.
It was a smaller store, nicely decorated, with very nice people working the counter. The store had only been open a few months, but they seemed to be doing very well. They had a basic selection, with a weekly selection to chose from. We chose six cupcakes to take on our travels. We got 2 Lemon Cupcakes, A Mocha Cupcake, a Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake, a Vanilla Cupcake, and, a Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting.

The Cupcakes were HUGE, but not overwhelming with frosting, so that was nice. The Lemon Cupcakes were really good, but my favorite was the Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting. It was quite tasty. The frosting, had a great chocolate flavor, but with still nice and sweet.
The next place we went to was Gigi's in Nashville. This place had a huge selection of cupcakes, and the staff was very helpful, I ended up getting 7 cupcakes, and I think I ate a good portion of them...by myself. I got a Red Velvet, Orange Dream, Pink Lemonade, Lemon, a Chocolate Malt Cupcake, Chocolate with Vanilla Frosting, and Vanilla with PINK frosting. These cupcakes were very tasty, but I would have to say, that there was WAY TOO much frosting on them. I know this is blasphemy to some, but it just didn't have the right ratio of cake to frosting. Seriously, how can someone eat the whole thing? I can think of a few people who would like to try...


If I had to pick a favorite though, it probably would be the chocolate malt cupcake. The cake had a nice light chocolate cake with a cinnamon aftertaste, and then a nice chocolate frosting with chocolate malt balls sprinkled on the sides. YUM.
Overall, I'd say our cupcake shop visits were a huge success. I think that I was on a constant sugar high the entire length of our trip though!

An interview

Well, I'm bored at work, and Cupcakes Take the Cake hasn't called me yet to interview me about my love for cupcakes. I'm pretty disappointed about this, but decided, I can at least interview myself, and then when they do finally call me, I can say, "see my blog, I did that two years ago."

1. Why did you start your blog and how did you get interested in cupcakes?
Well I have some extra time at work that allows me to surf the internet. I kept coming across these amazing cupcake blogs and thought it would be so much fun to be a part of the cupcake community. So I started a blog, and while, I don't think I'm a part of any cupcake communities, yet, I'm hoping that it just takes time. As far as being interested in cupcakes, well, ask anyone that knows me well, and I'm a dessert fanatic. Who cares what's for supper, what's for dessert? But sometime this past February I wanted to do something nice for my friends and family so I made a bunch of cupcakes and delivered them to their doorsteps. After that I realized everyone loves cupcakes and they are so easy to make and decorate, and they taste amazing.

2. Which are your favorite OKC cupcakes that you've tried so far?
Unfortunately, I live in Oklahoma City and we don't have any cupcake bakeries. So I'm going to be biased and say that I have the best cupcakes in OKC.

3. How do you think the OKC cupcake scene compares to cities like New York or LA? Is there anything that's missing from the OKC bakeries you'd like to see them offer?
Since we don't have a cupcake scene in OKC, it doesn't compare at all to New York or LA. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a town, with so many cupcake options. I really think that OKC could support a couple of cupcake bakeries. I like to dream that in a few years, I'll be one of those bakeries.

4. What do you think makes for the perfect cupcake?
Excellent question. I think cupcakes are a balance between frosting and cake. Some places that I've been put way too much frosting on the cake part (this could be blasphemy to some people), but when the frosting is piled so high that there is more frosting than cupcake, I just feel overwhelmed by it all. So a nice size, moist cupcake, with a nice helping of gooey sugary frosting is awesome. I'll take one now if you have one...

5. How often do you eat cupcakes?
Hmmm, not really sure I should answer this one. Well I probably bake cupcakes once a week...seriously can't do it, none of your business, how many times I eat cupcakes in a week.

6. What's the best thing about making cupcakes?
Cupcakes have endless flavor combinations, so many different ways to decorate them, that I never feel bored, like I'm making the same cake over and over again. It's a different cake every time.

7. What's your favorite type of cupcake?
I love strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting. So good. But I love cupcakes that are colorful, have sprinkles, and not just vanilla or chocolate, but something that makes it unique. Granted, not too unique, because then my 5 year old taste buds kick in, and say "no thank you," see previous posts concerning those cupcakes.

8. How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
That is a hard question. I love cupcakes a lot, but I also love chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, truffles etc. But as far as making those items, my cookies never turn out right, I've never made ice cream, and I'm not a huge fan of tempering chocolate, so cupcakes WIN!

9. Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
I can't think of anything right now, except I would like a Kitchen Aid Mixer, my Sun Beam Mixer is great, but doesn't have quite the power that the Kitchen Aid is known for. But please don't buy me one, those things are heavy, and I'm afraid you wouldn't get the right color.

10. Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
I love baking and decorating my own cupcakes, and I'm not sure that I would want someone to consistently bake the cupcakes for me. But I will admit that it is my secret desire to have someone provide a cake/cupcakes, not from the frozen bakery section, that is been beautifully decorated and taste amazing. Now don't get me wrong, I've been grateful and very happy with all desserts that have been provided for me, but I've made quite a few cakes/cupcakes for other people and would love to know how it feels to be on the receiving end of it.

11. What's your first cupcake-related memory?
You know, I can't really think of any childhood cupcake memories. I do remember my first cake memory though. For my 5th birthday, my parents got me an Annie cake. It had Annie and Sandy (her dog) airbrushed on it, and I don't remember how it tasted, but I remember I thought it looked amazing.

12. What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
That's a tough question. I really enjoyed discovering the cupcake bakery, Sprinkles, with some of my dessert loving friends. Making the owl cupcakes with my Thursday night friends was a lot of fun too. Making the cupcakes for my friends and delivering them to their houses, and hearing people's reaction to finding cupcakes on their doorstep was probably the best. I really felt like I was making the world a better place one cupcake at a time :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes awhile ago, but am just now getting a chance to add them. I remember that when I told my husband I was going to make cupcakes, he said "why are you doing that, the kitchen is clean, you'll just mess it up." He is so ungrateful sometimes :) He must not have been too upset about it because he came into the kitchen several times asking when he would be able to have one.
Onto the cupcakes, I had originally intended to use a peanut butter frosting and dip them in Mercken's chocolate and create kind of a Reese's peanut butter cup, but the frosting was too thick and it just wouldn't spread. But I'm glad that didn't work, otherwise it just would have been way too rich. So I made a peanut butter cake, added chocolate chips to the batter and baked it. Once they had cooled I dipped them in the chocolate and let the chocolate harden. Then I used my secret peanut butter candy recipe (it isn't really a secret, I would tell you if you asked me) and made sort of a Hershey's kiss design on the top. They turned out very tasty and I would definitely make/eat them again. Once again, my picture is blurry...but now that I remember, my husband took the photo, so we will blame him.

That is not a cupcake!

A new addition to the nasty cupcake list/ideas has been found:


What is this colorful new creation you ask? It is a meatloaf "cupcake", with mashed potato "frosting", and green pepper "sprinkles." I'll be honest, I'm not a big meatloaf fan, so of course I'm even less thrilled with this creation, but when the frosting is dyed red to make it appear even more like a dessert, it just grosses me out. Once again, don't call it a dessert name if it isn't a dessert.

Cupcake Night

My friends and I decided that we should make some cupcakes from the amazing book, Hello Cupcake. The book has some amazing ideas of how to decorate cupcakes. The book uses lots of candy and everyday items to make cupcakes look like dogs, owls, cats, popcorn etc. We decided to start off with an easy cupcake idea, and we made the owls. The decorating part was a little labor intensive due to the massive amounts of oreos needed. There was some doubt as to how they would turn out, but overall I think they turned out very nicely. Plus they tasted great too!