Martha meets Nigella.....

Boston Cream Cupcake

This is a bite size version of the classic Boston Cream Pie. A nice light sponge cake with pastry cream sandwiched in the center and a rich chocolate ganache topping.

I have been looking forever for the perfect Boston cream pie cupcake recipe and I possibly may have found it...

I first seen them on Martha Stewart's website and thought those look really damn good, so of course I made them right away. I was really unimpressed with Martha's pastry cream filling, so I spent countless hours testing and searching the web for the perfect filling that was from scratch that didn't have instant vanilla pudding mixed in. Then one rainy day I was flicking through the channels as usual and I came across a cooking show...and of course I don't remember what its called for the life of me but I do remember her name Nigella Lawson!! And just what was she just be happening to make BOSTON CREME PIE!! So there was no turning this one off(just only if I could mute the children) I was really interested in her pastry cream, the ingredient's were so basic. I was very worried that this to would be a little bland for my taste and it was raining and my kidlets were bored as heck. So what could it hurt trying this out, after all it would keep my girls happy. And boy oh boy I'm so glad I tried this, when I first tested it I could taste major improvement from the very first batch I made(Martha). But it was still lacking something but not sure what it was, maybe the flavor wasn't bold enough on its own for me, I was rather tired and still had more sponge cupcakes to make for that evening's good friends birthday party/BBQ. So I surrendered and started slicing the cooled cupcakes in half and filling them with cream and pouring chocolate ganache on top, I then decided to refrigerate 2 all dressed up and looking pretty gorgeous cupcakes for 1 hour and then do a taste test.....I waited exactly 53 mins I couldn't wait any longer and just had to eat it right away before I wore out a hole in front of our fridge.....so then in one rather large bite I sunk into half of the cupcake and I thought that I just might explode with delight. All together it complemented each other and all my worry about making these beautiful little Boston cream desserts was such a huge weight lifted off of me...I then served these cute little things proudly to my friends!

Click here for the Recipe!

Left over easter chocolate idea's

Sick of your easter chocolates already!! I know my household was and as usual my kidlets got way to much for them to eat by themselves so I set out to create a few idea's on what I could use these chocolates for.....
Idea #1: Chocolate glaze or ganache (any type of solid chocolate, white, dark, milk)
Idea #2: Chocolate shavings/chunks for decorating (I used a white chocolate bunny)
Idea #3: Frosting white or milk/dark

These are just a few of many idea's that I had for left over easter chocolates...


Carrot Cupcake Recipe!!

Chocolate Sensation

This is a nice light, fluffy chocolate whipped topping for the perfect chocolate cupcake that is rich and well chocolately!

Ingredients:
2 Cups   whipping cream
0.5 Cups instant jello pudding(chocolate)
0.5 Tsp  vanilla

Directions:
1. In a well chilled bowl start beating the whipping cream on med-high
2. slowly start adding in the chocolate pudding powder scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl
3. add in vanilla beat on high until stiff peaks form
4. eat right out of the bowl or pipe onto that perfect cupcake!!

Wilton Ultimate 3 in 1 caddy!

I just recently bought this Wilton Ultimate 3 in 1 caddy, I absolutely love this. It comes with a cupcake tray that holds 12 large cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes or one 9 x 13 cake with plenty of space for large decorations on top of your cupcakes or cakes. They also stack on top of each other which comes in handy. I bought this at Micheals craft store for 24.99(can) you can also purchase this on amazon, ebay or directly from Wilton.com .

http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Ultimate-Cupcake-Caddy-Carrier/dp/B000ENRLZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1270097700&sr=8-1

Strawberry Dream Icing

This icing is what sweet dreams are made of....this is my most requested topping for a vanilla cupcake. Its so smooth and airy it just compliments the taste of a plain jane cupcake that tends to be a little to sweet for alot of people. So here it is.....

Ingredient's:
2 Cups whipping cream
4-5 Tbsp pureed strawberries
0.5-1 Cup icing sugar
Stabilizer if needing to sit out for awhile I prefer Whip It by Dr.Oetker

Directions:
1. Whip cream (add stabilizer now)on medium high slowly adding in icing sugar scraping sides and bottom occasionally until stiff peaks form.

2. Mix in strawberries and enjoy.

Baby shower Cupcakes

I baked these cupcakes for a good friends baby shower....

The baby girls room is pink and chocolate brown theme so I baked 24 medium sized pink and 24 medium chocolate. I used basic flavors, for the pink I made a plain white cake with strawberry dream icing(made from whipped cream)which also had inside the cupcake as a filling, and for the brown I made a Devils Food cake with white chocolate filling topped with chocolate mousse icing, white chocolate glaze and skor bits. Even though Vanilla was the most requested at the end of the day chocolate was almost all gone. :)

       This is where I learned how to make my Cupcake Bouquet. This is one of the best You- Tube video's that I could find at the time.